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Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 


Panders  and  Their 
White  Slaves 


By 
CLIFFORD  G.  ROE 


New    York  Chicago  Toronto 

Fleming     H.      Revell      Company 

London  and  Edinburgh 


Copyright,  1910,  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 


New    York:     158    Fifth    Avenue 
Chicago:  125  No. Wabash     Avenue 
Toronto:  25  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:    21     Paternoster    Square 
Edinburgh:      100    Princes    Street 


&U,     \i-?5 


To 

My  Mother 


Preface 

IN  the  past  those  engaged  in  the  girl  slave 
traffic  have  managed  to  cast  a  veil  of  mystery 
about  that  business  by  keeping  their  opera- 
tions secret.  In  their  attempt  at  concealment  they 
have  been  unconsciously  aided  by  the  public  at 
large,  by  ministers,  reformers  and'  social  workers, 
since  the  latter  too  often  have  been  unwilling  to 
talk  about  the  details  of  a  subject  so  revolting. 
Yet,  this  very  secrecy  has  been  the  chief  cause  of 
the  success  of  the  nefarious  system,  for  it  has 
hidden  from  the  young  girls,  who  are  in  the 
greatest  danger,  all  the  methods  and  devices  by 
which  they  may  be  entrapped. 

Since  this,  the  aiding  of  the  evil  elements  in  their 
worst  phases,  has  been  the  effect  of  our  scrupulous 
nicety  and  dislike  for  discussing  ugly  things,  it  is 
evident  that  we  must  pursue  a  different  course. 
In  order  to  save  hundreds  from  a  life,  horrible  be- 
yond words,  we  must  cast  aside  all  false  notions  of 
modesty.  We  must  bring  to  light  the  methods  of 
those  engaged  in  the  business,  for  we  can  eliminate 
it  only  by  education,  publicity,  legislation  and  law 
enforcement. 

With  the  earnest  belief  that  this  is  the  only 
means  of  exterminating  the  panders  who  procure 
girls  and  sell  them  into  slavery,  I  have  tried  in  the 
7 


8  Preface 

following  pages  to  set  forth  thoroughly  and  hon- 
estly the  details  of  the  white  slave  traffic  and  to 
explain  the  artifices  and  methods  of  the  panders. 

The  facts  which  appear  in  these  pages  were 
thrust  upon  me  in  the  court  room.  There  I  heard 
the  terrible  stories  of  the  victims,  and  when  I  learned 
of  the  vast  proportions  of  this  atrocious  business,  I 
felt  I  would  indeed  be  unmindful  of  my  duty  if  I 
did  not  use  every  effort  within  my  power  to  eradi- 
cate this  evil.  In  mentioning  specific  immoral 
houses  in  the  following  pages,  I  have  purposely 
omitted  their  names  and  locations  in  order  to  pre- 
vent advertising  these  places.  The  surnames  of 
girls  who  were  procured  have  likewise  been  omitted 
for  obvious  reasons. 


Contents 


1. 

A  White  Slave 

II 

II. 

The  Conviction  of  a  Slave  Trader 

19 

III. 

Suspicion  Aroused    . 

26 

IV. 

Beginning  the  Fight 

.      33 

V. 

The  Confession  of  a  Pander    . 

51 

VI. 

Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panderj 

;      62 

VII. 

How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  . 

79 

VIII. 

The  Way  to  Slavery 

.      94 

IX. 

Supplying  the  Demand 

108 

X. 

A  New  Enemy   .... 

122 

XI. 

Need  of  New  Laws  . 

144 

XII. 

The  Value  of  Publicity    . 

158 

XIII. 

The  Police  and  the  Panders    . 

i;6 

XIV. 

The  Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis 

Gang 

.     194 

XV. 

The  Awakening 

207 

XVI. 

The  Lessons  That  White  Slavery 

Teaches 

216 

Panders  and  Their  White 
Slaves 


'T^ 


A  WHITE  SLAVE 

HE  court  room  that  morning  was  crowded. 
I  "  The  next  case,"  called  the  judge. 

J.  A  thin,  frail  young  woman,  aided  by  a 
physician,  walked  slowly  into  the  court  room  and 
took  her  place  on  the  witness  stand.  Her  face 
seemed  care  worn,  and  her  languid  expression  sug- 
gested that  she  had  passed  through  some  terrible 
crisis. 

It  does  not  matter  what  this  girl's  name  was. 
Suffice  it  to  say  that  her  first  name  was  Agnes. 
She  said  that  she  lived  with  her  parents  on  the 
north  side  of  Chicago ;  that  she  was  twenty  years 
old  and  was  a  high  school  graduate. 

"Do  you  remember  meeting  a  certain  young  man 
about  a  month  ago  ?  "  I  asked  her. 

"  Yes,"  she  answered.  "  I  was  then  employed  in 
an  office  down-town  and  one  of  the  girls  working 
in  the  same  building  with  me  suggested  that  we  at- 
tend a  dance  on  Saturday  night.  "We  went  unac- 
companied, my  friend  saying  that  she  knew  a  great 
many  of  the  boys  who  would  be  there.  This  dance 
11 


12        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

was  held  at  a  dance  hall,  I  believe,  near  the  corner 
of  Thirty-first  Street  and  Indiana  Avenue.  It  was 
there  I  met  this  young  man,  whose  first  name  was 
John." 

"  Will  you  please  go  on  and  state  what  occurred 
after  you  met  this  young  man  ?  " 

"  "We  were  dancing  waltzes  and  two-steps,  and 
after  one  of  the  dances  this  young  man  asked  me  if 
I  wouldn't  have  some  soda  water  or  lemonade  to 
drink,  to  cool  me  off.  I  asked  him  if  there  was  any 
place  near  by  where  we  could  get  some,  and  he 
said,  '  Yes,  we  can  get  something  down-stairs.' 

"We  went  down-stairs.  A  great  many  other 
young  men  and  young  women  were  going  up  and 
down  at  the  same  time,  and  when  we  got  to  the 
bottom  of  the  stairs  he  took  me  into  a  sort  of  cafe. 
There  were  several  couples  seated  at  the  tables  and 
I  noticed  some  were  drinking  beer  and  wine. 

"  I  asked  him  where  we  were,  and  he  said,  '  Oh, 
this  is  just  a  cafe.'  Looking  about  me,  I  saw  that 
this  cafe  was  in  the  rear  of  a  saloon. 

"  He  asked  me  what  I  would  have,  and  I  told  him 
that  I  would  have  some  soda  water. 

"  '  They  don't  keep  soda  water  here,  but  you  can 
get  a  lemonade.'  Then  he  ordered  two  claret 
lemonades,  and  we  drank  them,  through  straws, 
after  they  were  served. 

"  The  music  for  the  next  dance  had  started  and 
we  hastened  up  the  stairs.  While  we  were  danc- 
ing, John  jollied  me  and  told  me  that  I  was  very 
good  looking.    I  thought  he  was  just  fine  and  began 


A  White  Slave  13 

to  get  sort  of  '  mashed '  on  him.  After  another 
dance  or  so  he  asked  me  if  I  wouldn't  like  another 
lemonade,  and  we  went  down  to  the  same  cafe  and 
had  two  more  claret  lemonades. 

"  When  I  began  to  drink  the  lemonade  I  noticed 
a  peculiar  taste  about  it  this  time  and  asked  John 
if  it  were  intoxicating,  and  he  said  that  it  was  not, 
but  was  just  like  the  red  lemonade  you  get  at  the 
circus.  After  drinking  it  I  felt  dizzy.  It  seemed 
as  though  my  head  was  whirling  round  and  round. 
I  was  sick,  and  in  a  few  moments  I  entirely  forgot 
where  I  was. 

"When  I  came  to,  I  felt  weak  and  tired.  It 
seemed  all  darkness  about  me.  My  head  was  sore 
and  I  put  up  my  arm  to  feel  for  something  and  my 
hand  clutched  bedclothing.  For  a  moment  I  was 
startled.  I  couldn't  remember  anything  ;  where  I 
had  been  or  how  I  got  to  this  room.  I  tried  to 
raise  myself  up  and  look  about  me,  but  sank  back. 
I  knew  I  was  in  bed  but  everything  seemed  strange. 

"  In  a  moment  a  door  opened  and  a  bright  light 
shone  into  the  room  and  a  person  passed  through 
the  door  towards  me.  She  turned  something  on 
the  wall  and  the  room  became  brilliantly  lighted. 
I  gazed  at  her  steadily,  trying  to  recognize  who  it 
was.  She  was  dressed  like  a  servant  and  she  was  a 
dark  negress.  She  came  over  and  put  her  hand 
upon  my  head  and  soothingly  said,  '  Dearie,  how 
are  you  ? '  I  tried  to  answer,  but  my  voice  failed 
me.  I  lay  still  for  a  while,  and  finally  I  gasped 
out,  '  Where  am  I  ? ' 


14        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

" '  You  are  all  right,'  said  the  negress,  '  and  you 
will  like  it  here.' 

"  She  then  went  out  and  came  back  in  a  short 
time  with  a  glass  of  wine,  which  she  put  to  my  lips, 
and  I  drank  it  and  fell  into  a  sleep. 

"  A  day  or  so  later  I  became  stronger  and  it  was 
then  that  I  first  learned  where  I  was. 

"  '  Where  is  my  father  and  mother  ?  Am  I  in  a 
hospital  or  where  am  I  ? '  I  asked. 

"  The  negress,  who  was  at  my  side,  smiled  and 
said, '  I  haven't  seen  your  father  nor  mother,  dearie.' 

"  I  asked  her  for  my  clothes  that  I  might  go 
home  and  she  told  me  that  the  madam  had  them 
locked  up. 

" '  Madam,'  I  said,  '  who  is  the  madam  ? ' 

" '  Why,'  answered  the  negress,  '  she  is  the  lady 
that  runs  this  place.' 

"  *  Please,  may  I  see  the  madam  ? '  I  cried  out, 
for  I  was  becoming  terribly  frightened.  The 
negress  disappeared  and  came  back  with  a  stout, 
blond  woman,  wearing  a  kimono  and  a  great  many 
diamonds  and  other  jewels. 

"  '  I  don't  know  where  I  am,'  I  said,  '  or  how  I 
got  here  or  how  long  I  have  been  away  from  home, 
but  I  wish  to  go  home  right  away,  because  I  know 
that  my  father  and  mother  will  be  awfully  worried 
about  me  if  they  don't  know  where  I  am.  I  have 
never  been  away  from  home  over  night  in  my 
life.' 

"  The  woman  came  up  to  me  and  took  me  by  the 
hand  and  said,  '  Why,  you  know  where  you  are ; 


A  White  Slave  15 

you  can't  go  home  now.  You  owe  me  a  debt  and 
imtil  that  debt  is  paid  you  cannot  leave  this  house.' 

"  '  I  owe  you  a  debt,'  I  cried,  '  and  for  what  ? ' 

"'Wby,  don't  you  think  you  owe  me  anything 
for  taking  care  of  you  here  and  for  the  clothes  I 
have  bought  for  you  and  for  the  money  I  have  paid 
the  young  man  who  brought  you  here  for  his 
trouble  and  expense  ?    Of  course  you  do.' 

"  Then  she  told  me  to  get  up  and  dress  and  when 
she  handed  me  a  little  short  red  satin  dress  and 
some  silk  stockings,  the  idea  dawned  upon  me  that 
something  awful  had  happened  and  that  I  was  in 
some  horrible  place. 

"  The  negress  assisted  me  into  my  clothes  and 
there  I  was,  gaudily  dressed,  in  a  little  short  skirt 
that  scarcely  came  to  my  knees.  For  what  pur- 
pose, I  knew  not." 

"  Well,  what  did  you  do  then  ?  "  I  inquired. 

The  girl  seated  upon  the  witness  stand  flushed 
and  turned  from  me  to  the  judge  in  a  most  appeal- 
ing manner.  She  seemed  almost  exhausted  from 
relating  her  story  and  appeared  about  to  faint,  as 
she  recalled  the  memory  of  those  terrible  days 
which  followed  after  she  put  on  her  first  "house 
dress  "  and  before  she  was  liberated. 

The  bailiff  brought  her  a  glass  of  water  and, 
thus  refreshed,  she  continued  to  tell  her  story. 

"  I  really  don't  like  to  tell  the  terrible  things  that 
happened  to  me  there." 

Then,  as  though  lost  in  thought,  the  girl  sat 
motionless  for  several  minutes,  her  face  resting  on 


i6        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

her  hand.  The  muscles  in  her  face  began  to 
twitch  with  emotion,  her  lips  quivered  and  her 
hands  trembled.  She  was  struggling  to  keep  back 
the  tears  that  rolled  down  her  cheeks.  Finally,  in 
a  faltering  voice  she  said : 

"  For  days  and  days  I  pleaded  with  the  madam 
to  let  me  go  home.  I  was  sick.  I  could  not  endure 
the  drinking  and  the  awful  life  any  longer." 

Again  she  hesitated  for  a  moment.  "  Must  I  tell 
how  she  refused  to  allow  me  to  write  letters  to  my 
family  at  home  or  to  any  of  my  friends  ?  "  she 
asked.  "  How  she  refused  to  let  me  use  the  tele- 
phone ?    Oh !  It  is  too  awful." 

"  Were  you  ill  treated  there  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Yes.  They  knocked  me  about  and  even  whipped 
me.  They  watched  me  as  a  cat  does  a  mouse  for 
fear  that  I  would  say  something  or  tell  something 
which  I  had  been  forbidden  to  tell. 

"  At  first  they  sent  a  man  to  me,  whom  I  thought 
from  his  manner  I  could  trust,  and  I  told  him  of  my 
trouble,  and  he  sjrmpathized  with  me  in  my  terrible 
plight  and  said  he  would  help  me  escape  and  tell 
my  family  where  I  was.  It  was  for  this  that  I 
was  whipped,  for  I  found  that  he  was  what  they 
called  '  a  ringer,'  and  had  been  sent  to  me  pur- 
posely to  see  whether  or  not  I  would  tell  that  I  was 
being  kept  in  this  place  against  my  will.  I  found 
out  that  they  do  that  with  all  the  new  girls,  so  that 
they  can  find  out  whether  or  not  the  girls  are  dis- 
obeying orders  to  keep  still  about  how  they  got 
there. 


A  White  Slave  17 

*'  The  girls  are  cowed  into  submission  in  this  way 
and  are  afraid  and  suspicious  of  every  man  they 
meet,  because  they  do  not  know  whether  or  not  he 
is  '  a  ringer,'  and  they  have  been  whipped  and  have 
seen  others  whipped  until  they  become  overpowered 
and  their  spirits  broken,  because  they  find  that  they 
are  forced  into  a  life  from  which  they  cannot 
escape. 

"I  heard  other  girls  in  the  house  tell  of  how 
closely  they  were  watched  until  time  had  elapsed 
sufficiently  to  convince  the  keeper  that  they  were 
willing  to  stay  without  compulsion. 

"  Do  you  recall  where  this  place  is  located  ?  " 

"  Yes,  it  is  located  at  No. Armour  Avenue." 

"Do  you  remember  when  your  father  and 
mother  came  out  to  this  house  on  Armour 
Avenue  ?  " 

"  It  was  one  afternoon.  I  had  finally  got  a  letter 
slipped  out,  addressed  to  my  father.  When  he  re- 
ceived it,  he  and  my  mother  must  have  come  out 
immediately,  for  it  was  the  next  afternoon.  They 
wouldn't  let  them  see  me,  but  I  heard  them  talking 
to  the  madam  down-stairs.  They  demanded  that  I 
be  turned  over  to  them. 

"  The  madam  said  that  she  did  not  know  of  any 
such  person  there. 

"  I  was  going  to  call  out,  but  I  was  afraid,  both 
for  them  and  for  me  because  they  do  such  terrible 
things  there.  After  a  while  they  went  away,  but 
were  not  gone  long,  and  when  they  came  back  they 
had  a  police  officer  with  them.    When  I  saw  the 


i8        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

officer,  I  mustered  up  courage  and  ran  down-stairs 
to  where  they  were  all  standing,  and  my  father 
threw  his  arms  around  my  neck  and  said,  '  Oh ! 
My  daughter !  My  daughter ! '  I  could  not  speak 
for  fear  and  shame. 

"  The  police  officer  asked  the  meaning  of  all  this 
and  the  madam  told  him  that  I  was  in  debt  to  the 
house  and  could  not  leave  until  the  indebted- 
ness was  paid.  She  dared  any  one  to  take  me 
away  from  the  house  as  long  as  I  was  in  debt  to 
her. 

"I  was  so  weak  that  my  knees  trembled  and 
shook. 

"The  officer  looked  kind  of  puzzled  and  didn't 
say  anything  for  a  little  while.  Then  he  told  me 
to  go  up-stairs  and  get  my  clothes. 

"  '  I  don't  know  where  my  clothes  are,'  I  said. 

"  Then  he  turned  to  the  madam  and  told  her  to 
get  my  clothes  quick  and  to  get  dressed  herself  and 
come  to  the  station  with  him. 

"  I  was  so  overjoyed  that  I  fell  sobbing  and 
fainting  in  my  father's  arms.  I  dimly  remember 
a  ride  in  a  carriage  to  the  Beulah  Home,  where  I 
have  been  ever  since  my  escape  from  this  house, 
until  I  was  brought  into  the  court  this  morning." 

"  Do  you  recognize  the  madam  here  in  the  court 
room  ?  "  she  was  asked. 

"Yes,  I  do."  And  then  Agnes  pointed  her 
finger  at  Panzy  Williams,  who  sat  in  the  front  of 
the  room,  and  said  calmly,  "  That  is  she." 


n 

THE  CONVICTION  OF  A  SLAVE  TRADER 

WITH  groans  of  sorrow  and  sobs  of  joy, 
the  mother  of  the  girl,  who  had  lost 
her  daughter  and  had  found  her,  told 
how  she  had  gone  to  the  house  on  Armour  Avenue 
with  her  husband,  and  was  rebuffed  and  insulted 
by  Panzy  "Williams,  the  madam,  who  refused  to 
liberate  Agnes,  because  she  owed  a  debt  to  the 
house. 

I  glanced  from  the  tear-stained  face  of  the  mother 
to  the  defendant.  She,  the  dealer  in  misery,  sat 
there,  bland  and  cold,  shameless  and  unmoved  by 
the  mother's  appeal  made  to  protect  other  girls 
from  her  own  daughter's  suffering. 

After  other  witnesses  had  testified  against  the 
defendant,  and  the  prosecuting  attorney  had  pre- 
sented all  of  his  evidence,  the  defendant  went  upon 
the  witness  stand  and  made  a  full  denial  of  most 
of  the  facts  testified  to  by  Agnes. 

She  said  that  Agnes  had  come  to  her  house  of 
her  own  free  will,  and  that  the  girl  did  not  seem 
to  be  dazed  or  unconscious,  or  even  drunk.  The 
defendant  said  that  she  had  kept  Agnes  just  as  she 
would  have  kept  any  other  girl.  She  admitted 
that  Agnes  was  indebted  to  the  house,  this  fact 
having  been  testified  to  previously  by  other  wit- 
19 


20        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 


She  said  it  had  been  customary  for  years 
for  the  houses  to  protect  themselves  against  the 
girls'  running  away  and  not  paying  the  debts  they 
owed,  by  holding  their  street  clothing  or  something 
of  that  sort. 

After  the  defendant  had  concluded  her  testimony 
and  had  been  cross-examined,  the  lawyers  for  the 
defendant  rested  their  case. 

As  usual  in  criminal  cases,  the  attorney  repre- 
senting the  people  made  an  opening  argument,  out- 
lining the  evidence  introduced,  and  was  followed 
by  the  la\A^er  for  the  defendant,  who  summed  up 
his  case  as  follows : 

"  From  all  the  evidence  in  the  case  it  seems,  Your 
Honour,  that  this  defendant  has  done  nothing  that 
has  not  been  sanctioned  by  years  of  custom.  If 
she  is  to  be  arrested  and  prosecuted,  why  single  her 
out  ?  "Why  not  arrest  and  prosecute  the  scores  of 
others,  who  are  doing  the  same  thing  ?  The  sys- 
tem of  indebtedness  has  been  recognized  for  years. 
Although  I  know  that  under  the  law  the  landladies 
of  these  places  cannot  hold  the  clothes  of  the  in- 
mates, their  action  is  sanctioned  by  a  precedent  and 
custom.  It  is  a  matter  of  self-protection.  They 
do  it  in  order  to  prevent  being  cheated  out  of  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  every  year. 

"  In  order  to  get  out  of  pa3dng  a  just  debt,  this 
girl  has  drummed  up  a  charge  that  she  is  being 
held  against  her  will.  The  whole  case  is  a  farce. 
The  story  of  Agnes  is  a  myth.  It  is  ludicrous  from 
start  to  finish. 


The  Conviction  of  a  Slave  Trader       21 

"  Is  it  not  more  reasonable  to  believe  that  this  girl, 
anxious  to  see  the  glitter  and  tinsel  of  one  of  these 
houses,  desiring  to  taste  the  forbidden  fruit,  went 
there  at  her  own  request,  and  then,  when  found  by 
her  parents,  in  order  to  make  them  think  she  was 
innocent,  in  order  to  gloss  over  her  o-vvn  shame,  and 
right  herself  with  her  family  and  friends,  told  this 
story  of  being  drugged  and  taken  to  the  house  on 
Armour  Avenue  unconscious  and  against  her  mil  ? 
Could  that  be  done  without  attracting  attention  in 
a  large  city  like  Chicago,  where  people  are  passing 
to  and  fro  almost  every  minute  ?  I  say,  it  could 
not.  She  is  either  trying  to  square  herself  for  her 
own  misdeeds,  or  she  is  a  notoriety  seeker,  telling 
a  horrible  tale  in  order  that  she  may  be  the  central 
figure  of  sympathy  and  the  head-liner  in  the  news- 
papers. This,  Your  Honour,  is  my  theory  of  this 
case,  and  I  believe  Your  Honour,  looking  at  it  in 
the  same  light,  will  find  the  defendant  not  guilty." 

As  the  lawyer  for  the  defendant  sat  down,  a 
murmur  ran  through  the  court  room,  and  I  could 
hear  those  in  the  audience  making  remarks  in 
favour  of  the  counsel's  argument.  Some  whis- 
pered, "  She  must  be  a  notoriety  seeker."  Others, 
"  She  is  trying  to  square  herself  -wdth  her  folks." 

I  admit  that  as  I  sat  there  listening  to  the  able 
argument  of  the  defendant's  counsel,  I  was  puzzled 
to  know  how  to  answer  him.  It  seemed  to  me  al- 
most impossible  that  such  a  story  as  the  girl  had 
told  could  be  true,  that  in  this  great  city  a  person 
could  be  held  practically  as  a  slave. 


22         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

But  I  remembered  that  a  month  and  a  half 
previous    to    this    time,   I    had    heard  Henrietta 

B of  Duluth,  Minnesota.,  tell  how  she  had  been 

lured  to  a  life  of  vice  by  Morris  Goldstein.  I  re- 
called also  the  simple,  sincere,  convincing  way  in 
which  Agnes  had  told  her  story  in  this  case. 

Then  as  the  attorney  concluded  and  I  sat  at  the 
counsellor's  table,  vaguely  conscious  of  the  stir  in 
the  court  room,  and  of  the  defendant's  attorney 
gathering  his  notes  in  his  hands  and  again  taking 
his  place  at  the  table,  I  saw  certain  points  in  his 
argument,  things  which  he  had  nonchalantly  as- 
sumed and  which  hinted  at  a  great  iniquitous  busi- 
ness. Then  the  firm  conviction  came  over  me  that 
this  case  touched  upon  a  terrible  wrong  in  our 
social  life.  As  I  rose  to  make  my  closing  argu- 
ment, I  knew  by  the  demeanour  of  the  judge  and 
the  murmurings  in  the  court  room  that  I  had  the 
labouring  oar  and  that  I  must  convince  the  judge  be- 
yond a  reasonable  doubt  that  the  girl's  story  was  true. 

"  In  conclusion,  may  it  please  the  court,  let  me 
say  that  I  conceive  it  to  be  the  duty  of  a  State's 
Attorney  to  aid  the  court  in  arriving  at  a  just  and 
honest  verdict.  If  the  evidence  did  not  convince 
me  beyond  a  doubt  that  this  defendant  is  guilty,  I 
believe  in  all  fairness  that  I  should  have  the  courage 
of  my  convictions  and  so  state  to  the  court.  Many 
times  in  this  court  room  when  some  defendant  has 
unwittingly  committed  a  crime,  through  mistake, 
or  perhaps  by  compulsion  of  adverse  circumstances, 
I  have  asked  for  leniency  in  his  behalf,  but  never 


The  Conviction  of  a  Slave  Trader       23 

as  long  as  I  can  raise  my  voice  will  I  ask  for  any- 
thing but  the  full  penalty  of  the  law  for  a  defend- 
ant who  has  committed  such  a  heinous  crime  as 
has  been  committed  by  this  defendant.  If  the  de- 
fendant did  not  mean  to  hold  Agnes  in  captivity, 
why  did  she  deny  the  presence  of  the  girl  in  her 
house,  when  the  father,  the  mother  and  Mr.  Rich- 
ards came  there  after  her  ?  To  me  there  can  be 
no  greater  crime  in  the  world  than  the  selling  of  a 
girl's  soul  for  so  many  paltry  dollars. 

"  If  a  custom  has  grown  up  in  this  or  any  other 
community,  such  as  counsel  for  the  defendant  ad- 
mits to  be  the  fact,  shall  the  owners  and  mistresses 
of  these  houses  of  shame  set  up  their  own  laws  and 
their  own  interpretation  of  the  laws  ?  Why,  as  a 
class,  shall  they  not  be  subservient  to  the  same 
laws  that  all  other  classes  are  ?  Why  have  they  a 
right  to  hold  girls'  clothing  for  an  indebtedness, 
except  it  be  for  the  sole  and  only  purpose  of  hold- 
ing over  the  girl  a  club  to  make  her  become  indeed 
a  slave  ?  They  have  the  same  rights  to  go  into 
courts  and  collect  their  debts  as  any  other  person, 
but  it  is  larceny  for  them  to  take  the  girls'  clothes 
and  keep  them  without  their  consent  in  order  to 
protect  themselves  from  a  self-imposed  loan. 

"  The  defendant,  of  course,  is  interested  in  her 
own  behalf.  She  is  interested  in  becoming  free 
and  she  admits  only  so  much  as  has  been  shown 
conclusively  by  corroboration  of  other  witnesses. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  what  motive  has  the  girl 
to  lie  and  to  misinform  the  court  ? 


Z4        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  Nothing  is  sweeter  to  womanhood  than  honour. 
Nothing  is  grander  than  the  virtue  of  our  Ameri- 
can women.  Has  it  come  to  such  a  pass  that  they 
revel  in  parading  their  shame  before  the  public  ? 
Ko  one  can  believe  that  this  girl  has  come  into 
court  and  told  the  truth  about  this  nefarious  busi- 
ness for  any  other  reason  than  that  it  is  the  truth 
and  that  she  may  help  the  others  whom  she  has 
told  about  and  who  have  been  forced  into  this  ter- 
rible life. 

"She  tells  us  that  the  girls'  spirits  are  soon 
broken  down  and  that  they  soon  become  ashamed 
to  face  parents  and  friends,  and  give  up  the  struggle 
to  better  their  condition  and  therefore  slave  away 
to  pay  the  indebtedness  that  has  been  incurred  by 
kheir  sale.  Would  a  girl  tell  such  a  story  as  this  to 
right  herself  with  her  family  and  her  friends  ? 
Would  she  not  rather  avoid  publicity  ?  Is  that  not 
the  true  instinct  of  womanhood  ? 

"  As  Your  Honour  knows,  we  must  watch  the 
demeanour  of  the  witnesses  upon  the  stand,  and 
you  yourself  have  seen  how  frankly  and  straight- 
forwardly this  fragile  girl  has  told  her  story. 

"  Counsel  has  said  that  this  defendant  should  be 
a  free  woman. 

"  I  say,  yes,  let  her  go  free  when  she  can  returh 
to  this  little  girl  her  virtue ;  when  she  can  turn  the 
clock  back  and  make  this  little  girl  as  pure  in  mind 
and  body  as  she  was  before  she  was  taken  to  this 
resort. 

"But  this  she  cannot  do.    A  wrong  has  been 


The  Conviction  of  a  Slave  Trader       25 

committed.  She  has  taken  from  this  giii  that 
which  can  never  be  restored,  her  chastity,  her 
honour  and  purity. 

"  If  this  girl  be  a  notoriety  seeker,  as  counsel  has 
said,  if  she  is  merely  trying  to  right  herself  for  her 
own  misdeeds,  I  am  going  to  find  it  out.  If,  as  coun- 
sel has  intimated,  other  women  are  doing  the  same 
thing,  as  this  defendant  has  done,  if  they  are  di-ag- 
ging  gu'ls  into  houses  through  a  systematic  slavery, 
if  a  system  of  indebtedness  holds  girls  in  all  these 
houses,  then  as  an  officer  of  this  court,  I  pledge 
myself  here  and  now  to  investigate  this  matter  to 
the  very  end,  to  ferret  out  the  inner  recesses  of  this 
underground  world.  If  girls  are  sold  as  this  girl 
has  been,  it  is  slavery,  and  I  shall  pursue  it  to  the 
very  end,  and  if  it  be  a  system  of  slavery,  I  shall 
drag  it  from  its  hiding  place  to  the  light  of  the 
day." 

The  case  was  concluded,  and  on  the  thirty-first 
day  of  January,  1907,  the  judge  rendered  a  verdict 
of  guilty  against  Panzy  Williams. 

The  defendant,  after  being  convicted,  was  taken 
to  the  bureau  of  identification,  popularly  known  as 
the  "Rogue's  Gallery,"  to  contribute  her  photo- 
graph, finger  prints  and  measurements  to  the  col- 
lection there.  The  woman  who  had  been  so  calm 
and  suave  during  all  the  ordeal  of  the  trial  now 
broke  do^vn  completely  and  wept  bitterly.  She 
promised  then  and  there  to  abandon  the  loathsome 
business  in  vice,  and  is  to  this  day  living  a  decent 
and  upright  life. 


m 

SUSPICION  AROUSED 

FEOM  the  murmurings  just  outside  the  court 
door  in  the  large  outer  room  where  police- 
men, professional  bondsmen,  court  room 
visitors  and  the  denizens  of  the  underworld  mix  in 
one  babbling  throng  every  day,  it  was  evident  that 
the  decision  of  the  judge  was  unpopular.  Many  of 
these  people  said  that  the  judge  had  made  a  mis- 
take in  believing  the  story  of  this  girl  and  finding 
the  owner  of  the  resort  guilty. 

It  was  probably  not  generally  believed  that 
Agnes'  story  of  her  own  experiences  was  true,  and 
certainly  few  believed  her  charges  that  a  systematic 
traffic  and  sale  of  girls  for  immoral  resorts  existed 
in  Chicago.  Although  for  a  long  time  there  had 
been  perhaps  a  suspicion  among  the  people  that 
something  was  wrong,  to  the  vast  majority  the 
story  of  procuring  slaves  for  immoral  houses 
seemed  to  belong  to  the  realm  of  romance  rather 
than  to  that  of  actuality. 

During  my  argument  in  this  case,  I  pledged  the 
court  to  investigate  the  charges  which  Agnes  had 
made,  and  if  there  was  a  systematic  sale  of  girls  I 
proposed  if  possible  to  expose  it. 

It  seemed  to  me  that  this  was  a  just  decision  be- 
cause I  recalled  that  it  corroborated  two  similar 
26 


Suspicion  Aroused  27 

cases  that  had  come  into  my  experience,  one  De- 
cember 15,  1906,  and  the  other  a  year  or  so  before, 
when  I  was  not  in  the  State's  Attorney's  office,  but 
was  engaged  in  the  private  practice  of  law  in 
Chicago. 

At  the  time  when  these  earlier  cases  came  to  my 
attention,  I  thought  they  were  isolated  cases,  but, 
as  I  heard  the  corresponding  and  parallel  testimony 
of  Agnes,  I  began  to  suspect  that  girls  actually 
were  being  imprisoned  in  immoral  houses  under  our 
very  eyes. 

As  the  junior  member  of  a  law  firm  in  the  year 
1905  I  had  to  try  most  of  the  criminal  cases  that 
came  to  our  office.  One  day  a  barber,  who  was 
employed  in  a  shop  near  the  corner  of  Wabash 
Avenue  and  Twelfth  Street,  retained  our  firm  to 
defend  a  girl  named  Stella  R ,  who  was  im- 
prisoned in  the  county  jail,  charged  with  larceny. 
During  an  inter^dew  with  this  girl  regarding  her 
case,  I  learned  that  she  had  been  an  inmate  of  a  dis- 
reputable house  and  had  been  kept  there  against 
her  will.  She  said  that  the  keeper  of  this  house 
had  placed  a  large  debt  against  her  and  would  not 
permit  her  to  go  in  the  streets  without  a  guard 
from  the  house  as  long  as  she  was  in  debt. 

A  frequent  visitor  to  the  house  was  the  barber, 
who  had  retained  us,  and  he  was  well  acquainted 
with  the  "  Madam  "  of  the  place.  One  night,  the 
girl  said,  she  had  confided  to  the  barber  the  fact 
that  because  she  owed  a  debt  to  the  owners  of  the 
house,  she  was  detained  and  not  allowed  her  lib- 


28        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

erty.  He  had  heard  stories  of  this  sort  before 
without  paying  much  attention  to  them;  but  on 
this  occasion  he  was  moved  by  the  sincerity  and 
the  apparent  misery  of  the  girl.  That  very  night 
he  promised  that  he  would  aid  her  in  making  her 
escape  from  the  place.  They  talked  over  various 
plans  and  finally  decided  that  he  would  ask  permis- 
sion to  take  the  gui  to  a  theatre  the  next  evening, 
and  that,  after  they  were  out  of  the  house,  neither 
of  them  would  ever  return  there  again. 

After  some  discussion  between  the  barber  and 
the  madam,  the  desired  permission  Avas  granted 
upon  the  promise  of  the  barber  to  guard  the  girl 
carefully  from  any  one  who  might  speak  to  her  and 
to  return  her  to  the  house  again  after  the  theatre. 
The  girl  was  not  allowed  to  wear  her  own  street 
clothes  but  was  forced  to  wear  the  clothes  of  one 
of  the  other  girls  in  the  resort.  This  of  course  was 
a  means  of  preventing  her  escape  and  making  it 
necessary  for  her  to  return  with  the  other  gui's 
clothes. 

Once  outside  the  house  the  barber  secreted 
Stella  in  a  hotel  and  she  did  not  return  to 
the  disreputable  house  again.  The  madam  of  the 
house  sought  the  aid  of  the  police  department 
and  obtained  a  warrant  for  the  arrest  of  the  girl 
for  larceny  by  bailee,  that  is,  for  the  taking  of 
the  clothes  that  belonged  to  some  one  else  which 
had  been  given  to  her  to  wear  and  to  be  returned. 
Thus  although  her  own  clothes  were  locked  up  and 
she  was  not  allowed  to  wear  them,  she  was  charged 


Suspicion  Aroused  29 

with  stealing  the  clothes  of  another  inmate  of  the 
house,  which  she  had  been  inveigled  into  wearing. 
The  madam  knew  where  the  barber  was  employed 
and  gave  his  address  to  the  police,  who  by  follow- 
ing him  ascertained  the  hiding  place  of  the  girl, 
and  arrested  her. 

After  Stella  had  told  this  astounding  experience, 
Hon.  Judge  John  Gibbons  of  the  Circuit  Court 
of  Cook  County  was  petitioned  for  a  writ  of  habeas 
corpus.  The  petition  was  granted  and  the  case 
came  up  for  trial  upon  this  writ.  The  madam 
and  the  inmates  of  the  house  were  summoned  into 
court,  and  the  judge,  after  hearing  the  facts, 
censured  the  madam  for  such  a  vicious  practice, 
saying  that  it  was  a  misuse  of  the  courts  of  justice 
to  have  a  girl  arrested  under  the  circumstances  in 
this  case,  and  he  then  ordered  the  madam  to  turn 
the  girl's  clothes  and  belongings  over  to  her  and 
advised  the  girl  to  return  the  borrowed  clothes  to 
the  girl  who  owned  them.  The  writ  of  habeas 
corpus  was  thus  sustained  and  granted  and  the  girl 
was  released  from  custody. 

The  case  of  the  girl  from  Duluth,  Minnesota, 
which  I  recalled  during  the  trial  of  Panzy  Williams, 
came  to  the  notice  of  the  courts  December  15, 1906, 
just  ten  days  subsequent  to  the  opening  of  the 
Municipal  Courts. 

Morris  Goldstein,    alias    Leroy    Devoe,   in  the 

latter  part  of  1906,  met  Henrietta  B in  front 

of  the  St.  James  Hotel  in  Duluth,  Minnesota. 
Goldstein  approached  the  girl  and  said : 


30        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  Good-evening.    "Where  are  you  going  ?  " 

The  girl  told  him  that  she  was  going  home.  He 
answered : 

"  Well,  can't  I  talk  to  you  a  little  ?  " 

The  girl  said,  "  I  don't  know  you." 

He  then  explained  that  he  was  the  manager  of 
a  play  and  would  like  to  get  some  more  girls  for 
his  company.  Henrietta  asked  him  if  there  was 
much  money  in  it,  and  Goldstein  answered  : 

"  Yes,  we  pay  good  prices." 

He  then  gave  the  girl  a  card  and  told  her  he 
wanted  to  talk  with  her  some  other  night.  He 
made  an  appointment  to  meet  her  on  the  second 
night  after  that  at  Second  Avenue  and  Superior 
Street,  near  the  EoUer  Rink. 

The  rest  of  the  story  I  quote  in  the  girl's  own 
words. 

"  I  met  him  that  night  at  the  appointed  place 
and  he  walked  home  with  me.  On  the  Avay  home 
he  talked  about  the  play  and  asked  me  if  I  had 
ever  had  any  experience.  He  said  nothing  out 
of  the  way  that  night  and  I  then  made  an  appoint- 
ment to  meet  him  the  next  Saturday  night  at  the 
Minnesota  Candy  Kitchen  at  six-thirty  P.  M.  I 
had  told  my  folks  that  I  was  to  meet  the  manager 
of  a  play  before  I  left  home  Saturday.  He  never 
talked  to  my  folks  but  sent  letters  and  contracts  to 
them ;  some  of  them  he  sent  by  me  and  some  he 
mailed  to  them.  I  wanted  him  to  go  out  and  talk 
to  my  folks  but  he  said  he  was  too  busy. 

"I  left  Duluth  one  week  later  with   Goldstein 


Suspicion  Aroused  31 

at  night  on  tlae  day  coach,  sitting  up  all  night. 
We  left  Duluth  about  seven  o'clock,  p.  m., — Gold- 
stein paid  the  fare, — and  we  arrived  at  the  l^orth- 
western  Depot  in  Chicago  in  the  morning  about 
nine  o'clock.  He  then  took  me  to  the  Teco  Hotel 
on  West  Madison  Street.  We  then  went  out  and 
had  lunch  and  went  to  the  Haymarket  Theatre  in 
the  afternoon  ;  then  we  had  dinner  at  the  Empire 
Restaurant.  We  then  went  down-town  and  looked 
at  different  buildings  and  things,  and  then  took  an 
elevated  train,  arriving  at  the  hotel  shortly  after 
eleven  o'clock. 

"  He  told  me  that  he  was  out  of  money  and  I 
would  have  to  support  him  by  sporting.  I  told 
him  I  wouldn't  be  a  sport  and  ruin  my  life  for 
any  one,  and  he  said  sports  didn't  have  their  lives 
ruined.  He  said  he  was  going  to  put  me  in  one  of 
the  swell  sporting  houses,  and  he  named  a  couple 
of  them,  but  I  don't  remember  the  names.  He 
said,  '  I  brought  you  here  to  earn  my  living,  and 
I  have  not  done  any  work  for  five  years  and  have 
been  a  cadet  for  that  time.'  I  asked  him  what  a 
cadet  meant,  and  he  said  it  was  a  man  whom  a 
woman  supported  by  sporting.  He  said  he  would 
be  my  cadet,  and  that  I  was  to  give  him  what  I 
made  and  he  would  put  it  in  the  bank,  and  while 
he  had  time  nights  he  would  go  out  and  gamble 
and  that  we  would  soon  have  eight  hundred 
dollars. 

"  Goldstein  brought  a  woman  up  to  my  room 
who  was  a  sport  named  Porter.     She  came  up 


32        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

with  an  Italian  who  seemed  to  be  a  friend  of  Gold- 
stein's. The  Italian  and  Goldstein  left  the  room 
and  left  the  woman  in  the  room  with  me  and  she 
asked  me  if  I  wanted  to  go  to  sporting.  She  said 
there  was  a  lot  of  money  in  it  and  she  wanted  me 
to  go  down  to  her  house.  This  woman  remained 
with  me  all  night.  The  next  morning  Goldstein 
awakened  us  and  as  the  woman  was  leaving  the 
room  she  tried  to  get  me  to  go  with  her.  He  said 
I  had  a  yellow  streak  and  threatened  to  kill  me. 
My  reason  for  remaining  after  he  brought  me  here 
for  sporting  purposes  is  that  he  threatened  me  if  I 
left  and  I  was  afraid  to  leave.  I  am  at  present 
nineteen  years  old.  I  will  be  twenty  years  old  the 
thirteenth  day  of  May." 

The  record  of  Morris  Goldstein,  who  lived  on 
Milwaukee  Avenue,  Chicago,  shows  that  he  was  ar- 
rested on  December  15,  1906,  for  attempting  to 
pass  in  a  Chicago  store  a  check  which  he  had  forged. 
It  was  after  his  arrest  that  the  Duluth  girl  was 
discovered.  Goldstein  was  found  guilty,  and  the 
girl  was  sent  home. 

Were  these  isolated  cases,  or  were  they  specific 
instances  of  a  well  defined  trafiic?  They  had 
aroused  in  me  the  suspicion  that  a  slave  traffic  in 
girls  had  been  secretly  developed  and  was  being 
carried  on,  hidden  from  the  public  notice. 


BEGINNING  THE  FIGHT 

WE  started  an  investigation,  which  was  the 
beginning  of  the  fight  against  the 
panders,  immediately  after  the  experi- 
ences of  Agnes  had  been  related  in  the  court.  This 
investigation  was  greatly  aided  by  the  fact  that  on 
the  fifth  day  of  December,  1906,  the  old  Justice 
and  Police  court  system  had  been  abolished  in 
Chicago.  In  place  of  the  old  courts,  seething  with 
obnoxious  practices  and  customs,  was  created  the 
Municipal  Court  with  wider  latitude  and  more 
power  than  the  former  Justice  and  Police  Courts 
had. 

The  comfortable  salaries  paid,  and  the  excellent 
standing  of  the  court,  invited  lawyers,  high  in  the 
profession,  to  become  aspirants  to  the  Municipal 
Court  bench  and  consequently  skilled  lawyers  were 
elected  to  serve  as  judges  in  the  new  court.  These 
judges  originated  various  reforms  and  gave  their  as- 
sistance to  the  investigation. 

In  the  latter  part  of  January  and  also  in  the 
months  of  February  and  March,  we  quietly  inquired 
into  the  methods  of  the  underworld. 

Fu-st  we  turned  to  those  good  mission  workers, 
who  had  been  labouring  in  the  brothels  and  slum 
regions.    With  all  the  good  people  of  this  type 


34        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

whom  I  could  find  I  held  many  extended  interviews 
in  my  office.  The  tales  they  told  me  of  the  under- 
world were  terrible  and  at  first  I  was  inclined  to  be- 
lieve that  they  were  somewhat  coloured  by  prej- 
udice. The  Keverend  Ernest  A.  Bell,  who  aided  in 
the  trial  of  Panzy  Williams,  and  Deaconess  Lucy  M. 
Hall,  known  as  the  "  Mother  of  outcast  girls  and 
women,"  in  particular,  told  me  of  their  experiences 
in  the  districts. 

Deaconess  Hall  had  worked  in  the  red  light  dis- 
trict for  over  ten  years,  personally  visiting  houses 
of  ill  repute  and  talking  with  the  inmates  wherever 
she  was  allowed  to  do  so,  and  in  these  years  she 
had  gathered  a  great  fund  of  information  which 
now  she  submitted  to  me.  In  her  quiet  way  she 
had  gone  about  unmolested.  She  had  come  to  be 
regarded  almost  as  an  angel  by  the  victims  of  the 
vice  system  and  many  of  them  had  confided  in  her 
when  they  would  not  and  could  not  have  confided 
in  any  one  else.  Her  protests  in  the  past  against 
this  unspeakable  slavery  in  gu^ls  had  been  un- 
heeded. She  had  laboured  almost  alone  and  was 
powerless  to  do  much  more  than  sympathize  and 
console. 

The  Eeverend  Mr.  Bell  had  established  a  Mid- 
night Mission  in  the  heart  of  the  underworld  dis- 
trict. With  a  little  band  of  co-workers  he  had 
preached  on  the  corners  and  prayed  at  the  front 
doors  of  the  dens  of  shame.  From  the  outside  he 
had  heard  the  cries  of  the  inmates  when  they  were 
whipped.     He  had  watched  those  who  would  escape 


Beginning  the  Fight  35 

as  they  were  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the  law  upon 
the  complaint  of  the  resort  proprietors,  who  con- 
trived to  prevent  these  girls  from  wriggling  out  of 
their  clutches.  He  had  followed  them  down  to  the 
jail  and  watched  the  proceedings  in  the  court  room. 
He  had  seen  them  fined  and  the  fines  paid  by  the 
bondsmen  who  were  in  league  with  the  resort 
o^vners,  or  their  paid  managers  or  hirelings.  He 
had  seen  these  same  girls  led  back  to  the  same 
resorts,  free  from  the  entanglements  of  the  law  but 
again  captives  and  slaves  of  the  disorderly  house 
landlords. 

I  supplemented  these  interviews  by  talks  with  the 
hangers-on  about  the  court  rooms,  men  who  had 
known  the  districts  for  years  and  had  grown  up  and 
become  a  part  of  them.  As  I  gathered  this  informa- 
tion I  discovered  that  I  was  entering  upon  a  fight, 
practically  single  handed,  against  some  of  the  most 
skillful  and  shifty  men  that  the  oifice  of  the  State's 
Attorney  had  ever  dealt  with. 

There  were  no  funds  at  the  disposal  of  this  office 
with  which  to  employ  detectives,  and  the  only 
detective  force  the  State's  Attorney's  office  had 
was  four  men  from  the  police  department  of  the 
city.  These  men  were  always  kept  busy  in  going 
out  of  town  and  bringing  back  prisoners  who  had 
been  arrested  in  other  cities. 

Because  of  this  lack  of  funds  and  lack  of  detect- 
ives, I  often  found  it  necessary,  as  had  other  As- 
sistant State's  Attorneys  in  other  matters,  to  act  in 
the  role  of  detective.    The  information  which  I 


36        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

personally  gathered  served  me  well,  because  I  re- 
fused to  be  misled  by  misrepresentations  of  existing 
conditions. 

The  Citizen's  Association  and  the  Chicago  Law 
and  Order  League,  to  which  I  appealed,  frequently 
loaned  me  their  detectives  to  work  on  special  cases. 
Neither  association,  however,  felt  that  it  had  suffi- 
cient financial  backing  to  make  a  thorough  investi- 
gation of  the  slave  traffic  problem. 

From  time  to  time  I  called  upon  some  of  the  in- 
fluential men  of  Chicago  with  the  idea  of  interest- 
ing them  in  a  fight  against  the  panders ;  but  these 
men  were  too  busy  to  go  through  the  evidence 
which  I  had  collected,  and  instead  of  gaining  their 
support  I  generally  received  rebuffs  and  jests  at 
the  expense  of  m}'-  attitude  towards  the  white 
slave  traffickers. 

Men,  who  as  well  by  their  active  as  their  moral 
support,  failed  us  at  that  time,  should  have  been  the 
first  to  rise  and  stril^e  down  white  slavery. 

Mr.  Robert  Catherwood,  however,  studied  the 
question  thoroughly  and  became  convinced  of  the 
existence  of  a  traffic  and  sale  of  women  for  im- 
moral purposes.  Together  we  discussed  many  plans 
for  the  elimination  of  this  slavery.  "While  neither 
of  us  realized  at  that  time  that  it  would  be  a  war- 
fare of  years  and  not  a  battle  of  days,  we  were 
agreed  that  the  public  must  be  awakened  to  the 
seriousness  of  the  situation. 

In  attempting  to  arouse  the  public  I  appealed  to 
different  ministerial  associations  and  conferences 


Beginning  the  Fight  37 

and  I  addressed  a  great  many  of  them,  calling  their 
attention  to  this  insidious  slave  traffic.  At  each  of 
these  meetings  the  good  men  gathered  there  seemed 
astonished  and  horrified  by  the  facts  which  were 
brought  to  their  knowledge  concerning  the  panders. 
Often  the  ministers  passed  resolutions  condemning 
this  social  evil  and  gave  them  to  the  newspapers  to 
be  published,  but  few  of  them  ever  made  any  public 
denunciation  of  the  slavery  in  girls.  Apparently 
they  considered  it  a  subject  too  unclean  to  touch. 

These  momentary  denunciations  on  the  part  of 
the  ministers,  while  they  served  well  in  the  growth 
of  public  opinion  against  the  traffic  in  girls,  were 
also  detrimental  in  a  way.  They  gave  to  the  slave 
traders  more  confidence  in  themselves,  because  the 
latter  began  to  realize  that  they  were  strong  enough 
to  weather  these  little  squalls,  which  blew  up  and 
soon  died  away. 

An  early  white  slave  case,  which  succeeded  in 
making  the  public  begin  to  think  about  this  evil, 
came  to  light  in  May  of  1907.  This  case  brought 
much  information  which  aided  me  in  beginning  the 
fight  against  panders.  This  is  the  story  of  the 
case : 

One  afternoon  in  the  latter  part  of  March,  Mona 

M ,  who   was    working  in   one  of    Chicago's 

large  department  stores,  had  just  finished  selling  a 
bolt  of  ribbon  and  the  purchaser  had  turned  away 
from  the  counter  when  a  tall,  blond  young  man 
stepped  forward. 

"  I  would  like  to  see  some  ribbon,  please." 


38        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  What  kind  of  ribbon  do  you  wish  to  see  ?  "  in- 
quired Mona. 

"  Oh,  any  kind,  just  so  you  sell  it  to  me,"  he  said. 
Mona  smiled  and  looked  inquiringly  at  this  well- 
dressed,  handsome  fellow. 

The  conversation  which  followed  at  the  store  that 
day  is  not  recorded,but  we  do  know  that  on  that  very 
evening  Mona  was  sitting  beside  this  young  man  at 
one  of  the  leading  theatres,  enjoying  a  play.     The 

young  man  was  Harry  Balding,  to  Mona  M 

a  lover,  to  the  underworld  a  well-known  agent  of 
houses  of  ill  repute.  To  this  trusting  and  confiding 
girl  he  told  of  his  wealth  and  bachelor  apartments, 
and  of  the  elegant  life  she  could  lead  if  she  would 
but  marry  him. 

"When  the  theatre  was  over  and  they  had  arrived 
at  her  home  on  Elmwood  Avenue,  she  gladly  ac- 
cepted his  invitation  to  go  driving  the  next  evening. 
'No  improper  suggestion  was  made  by  Balding,  and 

to  Miss  M he   seemed  the  "  best  and  dearest 

fellow  in  the  world." 

The  next  evening  they  went  driving  and  Balding 
continued  to  shower  her  with  his  protestations  of 
love.  Before  the  evening  was  over  Mona  was  al- 
most won.    On  the  evening  following  they  attended 

a  dance  at  the Dance  Hall  and  Mona,  being 

then  completely  won  over,  placing  her  entire  confi- 
dence in  Balding,  drank  with  him.  She  asserted 
later  that  the  wine  she  drank  was  bitter,  and  that 
she  became  unconscious. 

Whether  or  not  Mona  was  drugged  that  evening 


Beginning  the  Fight  39 

may  be  a  matter  of  controversy.  Balding  asserted 
that  she  was  so  completely  in  love  with  him  that 
she  went  to  his  apartments  on  Wabash  Avenue 
without  making  any  objections,  and  voluntarily 
at  his  request.  However  that  may  be,  the  fact 
remains  that  she  was  with  Harry  Balding  at  this 
dance  hall  and  that  she  was  in  his  bachelor  apart- 
ments after  the  dance.  She  said  that  her  down- 
fall and  ruin  had  been  complete  when  she  regamed 
consciousness  and  that  she  awakened  to  find  her- 
self in  a  flat,  which  was  occupied  by  Baldmg  and 
several  of  his  "  pals." 

After  she  had  been  away  from  home  all  night,  she 
was  afraid  to  return  and  because  she  cried  and 
felt  so  badly  Harry  promised  to  take  her  to  a  min- 
ister and  get  married  right  away. 

After  they  had  started,  as  she  thought  to  the 
minister's,  Harry  suggested  stopping  on  the  way 
and  getting  "  a  friend  "  to  accompany  them.  She 
did  not  know  that  the  place  to  which  he  took  her 
to  see  this  friend  was  a  house  of  ill  fame,  but  soon 
she  found  that  she  had  become  a  captive. 

She  told  that  she  was  ordered  to  remove  her 
clothing,  and  in  protesting  against  this,  she  was 
struck  by  Balding,  who  advised  her  not  to  make  an 
outcry  or  try  to  escape,  if  she  knew  what  was  best 
for  her. 

As  in  nearly  every  case  when  girls  are  procured, 
her  street  clothes  were  locked  up,  and  she  was  not 
allowed  to  communicate  with  the  outside  world. 
In  this  statement  Harry  Balding  disagreed  with 


40        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

her  and  asserted  that  she  was  allowed  to  communi- 
cate with  her  mother,  and  that  in  his  company  she 
was  permitted  to  go  to  and  from  the  house  of  ill 
repute  to  which  she  had  been  taken  and  his  apart- 
ments, but  only  in  his  company  and  under  his 
guard  and  surveillance.  However  that  may  be, 
like  the  piteous  moan  of  Agnes  from  the  under- 
world, she  sobbed  out  the  story  of  indebtedness  and 
told  of  the  system  of  holding  girls  against  then*  will. 

During  the  weeks  she  had  been  in  this  house, 
Balding  visited  her  at  regular  intervals,  often 
threatening  her  with  dire  punishment  if  she  at- 
tempted to  escape.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of  May, 
however,  she  did  succeed  in  escaping  and  made  her 
way,  thinly  clad,  to  the  police  station. 

On  the  same  evening  as  I  sat  reading  law  books 
and  making  notations  of  my  cases  in  my  library, 
the  telephone  rang  imperatively.  I  hurried  to  the 
receiver. 

"  This  is  Captain  McCann.  There  is  a  girl  down 
here  who  claims  she  has  been  sold  as  a  white  slave. 
I  have  sent  out  officers  to  pull  the  flats,  which  she 
says  are  the  nests  of  procurers.  Can  you  come 
down  the  first  thing  in  the  morning  and  investigate 
the  matter  ?  " 

"  All  right,"  I  said,  "  I  shall  be  there." 

The  next  morning  I  went  down,  and  after  hear- 
ing the  girl's  story  I  called  in  Harry  Stephens, 
"William  McN"amara,  J.  C.  Baxter,  Edward  Daily, 

R.  R.  Leonard,  Harry  Balding  and  Henry , 

who  were  occupants  of  the  two  flats  that  had  been 


Beginning  the  Fight  41 

raided  in  the  hope  of  obtaining  from  them  state- 
ments that  would  corroborate  the  girl's  story ;  but 
these  young  men  were  very  reticent  and  uncom- 
municative. 

Warrants  were  taken  out  for  the  arrest  of  the 
proprietor  of  the  disorderly  resort  and  his  manager. 
The  next  morning  the  gui  faced  these  men,  who 
were  charged  with  being  responsible  for  her  down- 
fall. 

This  girl  of  medium  height,  with  full,  round, 
pretty  face  and  light  brown  hair,  was  accompanied 
by  her  mother  as  she  came  into  the  larger  of  the 
two  court  rooms  located  in  the  old,  time-worn 
building  which  houses  the  Harrison  Street  Police 
Station. 

The  walls  of  this  musty  old  room,  if  they  could 
speak,  would  tell  many  stories  of  how  for  years 
more  criminals  have  been  tried  there  than  perhaps 
in  any  other  place  in  the  United  States.  It  is  the 
most  dismal  place  imaginable,  with  scarcely  any 
light  except  the  artificial  light,  and  teeming  with 
more  odours  than  could  possibly  be  concocted  by  the 
ingenuity  of  man.  Each  day  it  is  filled  with  the 
garlic  and  tube-rose  of  the  Italians ;  the  mysterious 
opium  scent  of  the  Chinaman ;  the  highly  perfumed 
sport  is  there,  and  the  lodging-house  bum,  reeking 
with  tobacco  and  whiskey ;  all  this  is  mixed  with 
the  gases  from  the  open  sewerage  in  the  under- 
ground ceUs,  which  are  worse  than  any  of  those  of 
the  dark  ages.  Then  there  are  the  fumes  from  the 
stables  next  door  and  adjacent,  and  stifling  smoke 


42        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

from  the  ever-present  puffing  engines  across  the 
narrow  street  which  separates  it  from  the  La  Salle 
Street  Station.  To  top  it  all  off  comes  the  steam 
from  the  corned  beef  and  cabbage  and  the  frying 
of  the  odoriferous  onion,  which  the  cook  in  the  cel- 
lar below  is  going  to  dish  up  to  the  prisoners  for 
their  noonday  meal. 

In  all  this  odour  and  the  misty  gloom  of  the  court 
room,  the  judge  was  sitting,  listening  to  the  con- 
stant grind  of  cases  which  the  State  was  prosecut- 
ing,  when    Mona  M and  her  mother  came 

into  the  section  reserved  for  witnesses.  Finally 
Mona  was  called  to  the  witness  stand,  and  she  told 
in  vivid  language  of  her  sale  into  an  immoral  life 
for  fifty  dollars,  which  she  said  was  charged 
against  her  by  the  owner  of  the  house  to  which  she 
was  sold.  She  said  furthermore,  that  the  mistress 
of  the  house  also  put  a  debt  of  one  hundred  dollars 
against  her  for  parlour  clothes,  and  that  to  fasten 
the  chain  of  debt  around  her  more  securely.  Bald- 
ing had  come  around  every  week  and  borrowed 
money  from  the  proj^rietor  which  was  charged  up 
against  her. 

She  told  of  the  sale  of  many  other  girls  into  vice 
slavery  for  prices  ranging  from  twenty-five  to  one 
hundred  dollars.  She  detailed  to  the  court  how 
she  had  attempted  to  escape  and  how  she  at  last 
had  succeeded.  She  charged  all  these  men  who 
were  arraigned  as  defendants  before  the  court  with 
being  engaged  in  the  business  of  bringing  about  the 
downfall  of  girls. 


Beginning  the  Fight  43 

"  How  long  were  you  in  that  place  ? "  I  asked 
her. 

"I  was  there  from  March  twentieth  until  last 
Saturday.  Harry  kept  telling  me  that  he  would 
get  me  out  and  that  we  would  go  to  St.  Louis  and 
get  married.  He  didn't  do  it,  however,  and  kept 
on  taking  my  money  from  me.  I  had  no  street 
clothes  and  could  not  get  out." 

"  What  did  the  people  at  the  house  say  to  you  ?  " 
she  was  asked. 

"  They  told  me  I  would  have  to  stay  unless  Harry 
said  otherwise." 

"  Did  they  keep  you  in  the  house  all  the  time 
from  March  twentieth  to  May  twenty-fifth  ?  " 

"  ;N'o,  they  took  me  out  one  night  and  took  me 
to  the  flat  on  Wabash  Avenue  near  Twenty-third 
Street  again.  This  is  Willie  McNamara's  place 
where  they  take  all  the  girls.  I  found  some  more 
young  girls  there.  One  of  them,  who  was  named 
Dolly,  has  since  escaped." 

"  Did  you  know  any  of  the  other  girls  there  ?  " 

"  Not  well.  There  was  one  named  Gillette,  who 
was  later  sold  to  a  place.  Another,  named  Burns, 
was  sold  to  the  same  place  I  was  iu,  for  twenty-five 
doUars,  and  she  is  there  now.  There  was  another 
one.  Hazel  Daily,  whose  husband  put  her  in  this 
house  also.  Then  there  is  another  Httle  girl,  named 
Gladys,  out  there  still." 

"  Did  you  have  any  jewelry  ?  "  asked  the  court. 

"  Yes,  I  did,  and  they  took  it  away  from  me  and 
pawned  it." 


44        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

One  of  the  surprises  of  the  trial  was  occasioned 
when  Mrs.  Wm.  H.  Johns,  wife  of  "  Lefty  "  Johns, 
one  of  the  confederates  of  Harry  Balding,  went  on 
the  stand  as  a  witness  for  the  State.  She  stated 
that  she  was  a  bookkeeper  and  was  now  living  with 
her  mother. 

"  My  husband  married  me  to  sell  me  into  one  of 
those  places,"  she  testified.  "  I  know  that  he  and 
Harry  Balding  work  together  in  this  business,  and 
that  he  sells  girls,  as  has  been  told  here,  and  as  he 
tried  to  sell  me.  I  do  not  believe  that  he  ever  did 
anything  else." 

"  Do  you  know  any  girl  he  sold  ?  "  she  was  asked. 

"A  girl  named  Lilly  was  caught  by  him  and 
Balding  and  put  in  a  house  in  St.  Paul,  where  she 
is  to-day.  She  was  a  good  girl  too,"  was  the  start- 
ling response. 

Several  of  the  defendants  took  the  stand  in  their 
own  behalf,  among  them  "William  McNamara,  a 
former  prize-fighter  and  reputed  leader  of  one  of 
the  gangs  of  procurers.  Under  cross-examination 
he  was  compelled  to  admit  that  he  had  furnished 
the  bachelor  apartments  on  "Wabash  Avenue  near 
Twenty-third  Street  and  that  he  and  liis  associates 
in  the  procuring  business  took  their  victims  there 
before  delivering  them  to  the  houses.  Pressed  and 
plied  with  questions,  he  told  a  most  cold-blooded 
and  daring  story,  and  without  hesitating  admitted 
the  part  he  played  in  securing  a  certain  consign- 
ment of  fourteen  girls,  presumably  to  go  on  the 
stage  with  a  Southern  road  compan}'",  when  he 


Beginning  the  Fight  45 

knew  their  ultimate  destination  was  a  questionable 
resort  in  Beaumont,  Texas.  At  the  conclusion  of 
his  testimony,  Judge  John  K.  Newcomer,  turning 
fiercely  towards  McNamara,  said : 

"  Don't  you  think  you  ought  to  be  taken  out  and 
shot  dead  for  this  ?  " 

McE"amara  cowered  in  his  chair.  He  was  still 
on  the  witness  stand  and  seemed  terribly  fright- 
ened. This  big,  burly  man,  seemingly  seized  with 
abject  fear,  finally  whimpered  : 

"  Yes,  sir.  Since  the  reverend  gentleman,"  point- 
ing to  the  Reverend  Ernest  A.  Bell,  "  talked  to  me 
about  my  sins  last  evening,  I  feel  that  I  should  be 
punished." 

After  he  left  the  witness  stand,  all  the  cases  were 
continued  until  June  first.  When  the  case  was 
called  again,  they  were  compelled  under  the  evi- 
dence in  the  possession  of  the  State  to  admit  that 
they  had  been  trafficking  in  innocent  young  women. 
And  when  they  had  all  drawled  out  their  morbid 
tales  concerning  this  awful  traffic,  each  was  found 
guilty  by  the  court,  Harry  Balding  receiving  the 
longest  sentence,  one  year  in  the  house  of  correc- 
tion and  a  fine  of  one  hundred  dollars. 

These  admissions  from  the  defendants,  who  had 

been  impHcated  in  the  downfall  of  Mona  M , 

furnished  the  most  astounding  feature  of  the  case. 
If  this  case  did  nothing  else,  it  served  to  bring  to 
the  notice  of  public  officials  the  fact  that  the  pro- 
curing of  girls  for  immoral  houses  was  done  sys- 
tematically, and  also  to  give  the  names  of  other 


46        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

slaves,  who  could  be  rescued  and  their  captors 
avenged  by  the  might  of  the  law. 

Thus  ended  the  case  of  Mona  M ,  with  its 

story  of  gaining  a  girl's  confidence  by  pretended 
love  at  first  sight,  the  easy  deception  of  a  girl,  and 
the  hazardous  results.  The  case  is  ended,  but  its 
effect  upon  the  public  mind  will  live  for  many 
years. 

On  Friday  morning,  the  thirty-first  of  May,  a 
young  girl,  a  striking  blonde,  was  led,  weeping,  into 
the  court  room  by  detectives  Considine  and  Thomas. 
I  turned  in  my  seat  and  saw  the  officers  bringing 
the  girl  towards  me. 

"  Here  is  another  white  slave  case,  which  is  go- 
ing to  be  on  trial  this  morning  in  Judge  Fake's 
com't,"  said  one  of  the  officers. 

Since  we  frequently  do  not  have  much  time  to 
prepare  our  cases  in  the  State's  Attorney's  office,  I 
was  ready  at  once  to  go  over  the  evidence  with  the 
officers  and  had  just  finished  when  Judge  New- 
comer stepped  to  the  bench. 

"  Let  me  know  when  the  case  is  called,"  I  said, 
"  and  I  will  come  in." 

It  was  perhaps  an  hour  later  and  I  had  just  fin- 
ished trying  a  case,  when  the  bailiff  touched  me  on 
the  shoulder  and  said  : 

"  They  want  you  in  the  next  court  room  to  try 
that  white  slave  case." 

A  young  man  who  answered  the  call  of  the  name 
of  Jeager  stepped  out  of  the  doorway  and  was 
led  in  front  of  the  court.     The  pretty  blond  girl, 


Beginning  the  Fight  47 

whom  I  had  talked  with  earlier  in  the  morning,  was 
seated  in  the  witness  chair.  After  the  preliminary 
formalities  of  signing  the  jury  waiver  had  been  dis- 
posed of,  she  was  asked  to  state  her  name  and  age 
to  the  court. 

"My  real  name,"  she  answered,  "is  Adelaide 

McD .     I  was  so  ashamed  last  night  when  Mr. 

Bell,  the  missionary,  found  me  in  that  horrible 
house,  that  I  didn't  give  my  right  name.  I  gave 
the  name  of  Wilson.     I  am  twenty  years  old." 

"  Will  you  teU  the  court  where  you  are  from  and 
about  your  experiences  with  this  defendant  ?  " 

"  My  home  is  in ,  Illinois,  where  I  live  with 

my  parents.  My  father  is  a  contractor.  He  is 
wealthy.  I  have  never  been  away  from  home  be- 
fore. I  was  induced  by  this  man  I  met  two  weeks 
ago  to  go  with  him  to  Eockf  ord.  He  said  he  loved 
me  and  I  thought  I  loved  him. 

"  We  had  dinner  in  Eockf  ord,  and  at  dinner  he 
persuaded  me  to  drink  wine.  It  made  me  ill  and  I 
could  not  sit  up.  He  took  me  to  a  hotel.  I  cried 
and  he  told  me  his  father  owned  a  bank  in  Zitka, 
that  he  was  heir  to  five  hundred  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  that  while  he  knew  he  had  done  wrong 
in  taking  me  away  from  home,  he  would  marry  me 
and  make  it  all  right.  He  brought  me  to  Chicago, 
where  he  said  he  would  furnish  a  fine  home  for 
me. 

"  When  we  got  to  Chicago,  Mr.  Jeager  said  he  was 
going  to  show  me  the  town,  and  we  went  to  several 
places,  but  I  had  never  been  in  such  a  part  of  the 


48        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

world  before,  and  I  did  not  know  what  sort  of  peo- 
ple they  were.  "When  we  reached  the  place  on 
Dearborn  Street,  Jeager  began  asking  me  if  I  did 
not  like  the  crowd,  and  whether  they  weren't  a  jolly 
lot  of  people.  He  said  if  I  would  like  to  live  in  that 
house  with  the  gay  crowd  he'd  fix  it  so  that  I  could. 
I  told  him  I  would  not  like  to  be  with  such  people. 
Then  he  got  me  to  take  some  drinks,  and  as  I  wasn't 
used  to  it,  I  didn't  know  what  I  was  doing." 

At  this  moment  Jeager  spoke  up  from  where  he 
stood  before  the  court  and  in  an  excited  voice  cried : 

"  Your  Honour,  this  was  a  slumming  tour ;  the  girl 
knew  where  she  was  going.  This  is  not  her  first 
experience." 

"  He  lies,  Your  Honour,"  interrupted  Detective 
Considine.  "  When  he  was  arrested  he  told  me  that 
this  young  lady  was  a  perfectly  innocent  girl  when 
he  met  her  and  he  made  this  statement  several 
times  since." 

The  judge,  usually  so  calm,  hit  the  desk  with  his 
fist  and  said  in  sharp  tones : 

"  Don't  interrupt  the  witness  again,  Mr.  Jeager, 
while  she  is  testifying." 

The  pretty  complainant,  flushing  with  rage, 
pointed  her  finger  at  Jeager  and  said : 

"  You  know  I  was  an  innocent  girl  when  you  met 
me.  You  told  such  glowing  stories  of  your  father's 
wealth,  and  told  me  you  had  fallen  in  love  with  me 
on  sight  and  that  you  would  elope  with  me.  That's 
the  way  you  deceived  me." 

"  Just  be  calm  and  don't  get  excited,"  said  the 


Beginning  the  Fight  49 

court.  "  I'll  listen  carefully  to  what  you  have  to 
say." 

The  girl,  half  crying,  stopping  now  and  then  to 
wipe  her  eyes,  completed  her  story  of  how  she  had 
been  a  victim  of  the  white  slave  traffic.  Then 
the  trembling  girl  stepped  from  the  witness  stand 
and  sat  down  by  the  police  officers. 

The  Keverend  Mr.  Bell,  Avho  was  next  called  to 
the  stand,  told  how  he  had  found  this  girl  in  a  cer- 
tain disorderly  resort  on  Dearborn  Street,  and  that 
upon  learning  that  she  had  been  lured  there  by 
Jeager,  furnished  the  police  the  information  upon 
which  they  acted  in  making  the  arrest.  The 
police  officers  also  testified  as  to  what  Jeager  had 
told  them  and  what  the  girl  had  said  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  defendant. 

Finally  the  defendant,  being  called  to  the  witness 
stand,  told  the  court  that  he  did  not  know  that  he 
was  committing  any  offense  against  the  law  and 
promised  never  to  do  it  again.  Then  the  witness 
stepped  down  and  Judge  Fake  rendered  his  deci- 
sion. 

"  I  believe  the  girl  is  telling  the  truth,"  said  the 
judge.  "  This  is  a  flagrant  illustration  of  an  atro- 
cious traffic  in  girls  that  has  come  to  my  notice.  In 
the  face  of  this  the  prisoner  asks  the  court  to  let  him 
go  free.  He  assures  the  court  that  he  will  not  re- 
peat the  offense.  This  court  will  see  that  he  does 
not  repeat  the  offense.  A  crime  of  this  sort  should 
place  a  man  where  he  could  never  so  offend  again. 
In  this   case  the  court  finds  the  defendant,  Keil 


50        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Jeager,  guilty,  and  assesses  the  fine  at  the  maximum, 
two  hundred  dollars  and  costs.  I  realize  that  this 
fine  is  inadequate  to  the  crime,  and  I  tell  you  now 
that  the  punishment  would  be  heavier  if  the  law 
would  allow  me  to  make  it  so." 

The  court  ordered  telegrams  sent  to  the  father  of 
the  girl  and  he  came  to  Chicago  and  took  his 
daughter  home. 

Probably  no  one  who  reads  of  these  cases  of  which 
I  have  just  told  will  doubt  that  there  is  a  traffic  in 
girls  and  women  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the 
markets  of  vice,  but  many  who  read  the  daily 
papers  at  that  time,  who  professed  an  interest  in  the 
public  welfare,  who  saw  accounts  of  the  trials  from 
day  to  day,  and  kept  closely  in  touch  with  current 
affairs,  were  not  convinced  or  perhaps  did  not  care 
to  be. 


V 

THE  CONFESSION  OF  A  PANDER 

TWO  weeks  after  the  Mona  M cases 
had  been  disposed  of,  as  I  sat  in  my  dingy- 
little  office  between  the  larger  and  smaller 
courts  of  the  Harrison  Street  Station,  a  short,  fairly 
stocky  man  probably  about  fifty  years  old,  entered 
the  room. 

I  did  not  know  him.  I  asked  him  to  be  seated ; 
and  as  he  sat  down  I  noticed  that  his  face  was 
anxious  and  sorrowful.  It  was  etched  with  lines  of 
trouble  covering  a  frank,  honest,  open  countenance. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you  ?  "  I  said,  as  he  nervously 
twisted  his  short  gray  mustache. 

"I  have  come  to  beg  for  mercy  for  my  boy. 
Like  a  good  many  other  boys,  my  boy  has  been 
wayward,  but  at  heart  he  is  a  good  boy.  I  have 
just  come  up  from  the  cells ;  they  let  me  go  down 
to  see  Hemy  and  he  has  promised  to  tell  all  about 
this  affair." 

"  Is  your  son  Henry ,  who  was  mixed  up 

in  the  Mona  M case  ?  "  I  asked  him. 

"  Yes,  that's  my  son,  and  to  think  of  that  boy 
being  down  there  in  a  cell,  and  for  such  an  awful 
crime,  after  the  splendid  education  and  oppor- 
tunities I  have  given  him  !  Why,  do  you  know  he 
attended  one  of  the  high  schools  in  Chicago  and 
51 


52        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

was  getting  along  fine  until  lie  got  in  bad  company 
and  ran  away  from  home.  He  went  West  some 
place  and  I  hadn't  heard  from  him  for  months 
until  I  got  a  letter  from  him  to  come  down  here  to 
the  jail  to  see  him.  I  had  no  idea  where  he  was  or 
what  he  was  doing.  He  says  he  has  not  been  very 
well,  and  if  you  will  let  me  take  my  boy  home, 
and  give  him  another  start,  I  will  try  to  make  a 
man  out  of  him." 

"  I  am  afraid,  my  friend,  that  will  be  impossible. 
I  cannot  let  your  boy  off,  because  the  offense  he 
has  committed  is  too  grave." 

"  But  it  will  kill  him  to  stay  in  jail,"  interjected 
the  father.  "  Just  let  him  go  this  time,  for  the 
sake  of  his  old  mother  at  home,  if  not  for  my  sake." 

"  His  mother  and  you  have  my  deepest  sympathy, 

Mr. ,  as  have  all  mothers  and  fathers  whose 

boys  have  gone  wrong,  because  it  is  the  parents 
who  always  have  to  suffer.  The  relatives  and 
those  dear  to  the  defendants  must  bear  the  burden 
of  crime,  as  well  as  those  who  have  offended  against 
the  law." 

The  old  father  looked  downcast  and  dejected  for 
a  few  minutes;  then  suddenly  his  face  seemed 
radiant,  as  he  said : 

"  "Well,  if  he  has  done  wrong,  perhaps  it  will  do 
him  good  to  suffer  some  for  it,  but  I  am  going  to 
make  him  tell  the  truth  about  this  whole  business 
just  the  same." 

"  Yes,  it  will  do  his  conscience  good  and  be  of 
great  service  to  the  public,"  I  said. 


The  Confession  of  a  Pander  53 

"  Will  you  send  for  him,"  he  asked,  "  and  have 
him  here  with  me  in  the  room  so  that  I  can  listen 
to  what  he  says  ?  " 

I  told  him  that  I  should  be  glad  to  send  for  him, 
and  told  him  to  come  back  that  night  after  supper 
and  I  would  have  the  boy  there  in  the  office. 
After  the  visitor  had  departed  I  took  up  the 
telephone  and  called  up  Mr.  Shelby  Singleton,  the 
secretary  of  the  Citizen's  Association,  and  asked 
him  if  he  would  stay  down-town  that  evening  as  I 
wanted  him  to  be  present  at  a  conference,  which  I 
was  going  to  have  with  some  men.  He  said  he 
would  do  so.     I  then  called  in  a  police  officer  and 

asked  him  to  bring  Henry up  from  the  jail 

and  have  him  in  my  office  that  evening  at  seven 
o'clock. 

At  the  appointed  time,  the  officer  was  there  with 
the  young  man,  and  there  was  also  present  with  me 
the  boy's  father  and  Mr.  Singleton. 

I  asked  the  boy's  father  and  the  police  officer  to 
step  into  the  court  room  for  a  few  minutes  while 
Mr.  Singleton  and  I  talked  with  the  boy.  I  did 
this  because  I  thought  the  boy  would  probably 
hesitate  to  make  a  full  statement  in  the  presence 
of  his  father.  In  this  case  it  was  a  wise  precaution 
because  the  young  man  told  me  a  great  many 
things,  which  he  said  he  did  not  want  his  father  to 
know  about.  I  made  notes  of  all  the  statements 
he  made. 

Most  startling  was  the  confession  made  by 
Henry that  night.     I  purposely  omit  this 


54        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

young  man's  surname  because  his  father  informs 
me  that  his  son  has  since  reformed  and  is  living  an 
honest,  wholesome  life.  It  was  the  evening  of 
June  13,  1907,  that  I  began  the  examination  of 
this  young  man  by  saying : 

"  You  have  been  brought  here  at  your  father's 
request ;  as  I  understand,  you  want  to  make  a  full 
statement  in  regard  to  the  system  used  by  the 
agents  of  vice  resorts  in  securing  girls.  If  you  do 
so,  you  make  this  statement  without  any  promise 
of  immunity,  of  your  own  free  will,  and  without 
intimidation,  threats,  or  force,  and  with  no  con- 
sideration of  reward  whatsoever." 

"  That  is  what  I  want  to  do,  make  a  clean  breast 
of  the  whole  business,"  he  answered. 

"  I  have  worked  in  this  business  for  about  a  year 
with  several  different  fellows,  lately  mostly  with 
Billy  McNamara  and  Harry  Balding." 

"  Name  all  the  fellows  that  you  can  think  of  that 
are  procuring  girls,"  I  interjected. 

"  I  know  I  am  going  to  get  in  wrong  by  telling 
the  names  of  these  fellows,"  he  replied,  "  and  the 
names  of  the  houses  sending  them  out  and  buying 
the  girls  from  them.  They  never  will  let  up  on 
me,  and  when  I  get  out  of  tliis  trouble  I  surely  will 
have  to  leave  Chicago.  I  know  one  fellow  who 
gave  away  some  of  their  secrets  and  they  had  him 
followed  all  through  the  West  until  they  got  him." 

(Here  followed  a  list  of  twenty-six  names  of 
agents  who  were  actively  engaged  in  this  business  ; 
also  the  names  of  the  girl  slave  traders  who  were 


The  Confession  of  a  Pander  ^^ 

sending  out  the  procurers  and  the  names  of  a  great 
many  girls  who  had  been  procured.) 

"Will  you  tell  me  of  the  girls  that  you  have 
procured  yourself  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Well,"  he  said,  "  not  long  ago  Billy  McKamara 
and  myself  got  several  girls  and  shipped  them  out 
of  the  city. 

"  Billy  came  around  to  see  me  one  day  and  said 

there  was  a  woman  staying  at  the Hotel, 

whom  he  met  when  he  was  down  South,  and  who 
was  up  here  to  get  some  girls  to  take  back  \\ath 
her.  He  said  he  would  divide  up  with  me  if  I 
would  help  him  get  some.  Between  us  we  got 
fourteen  girls  in  about  a  week  and  delivered  them 

to  her  at  the depot  here  in  the  city.     I  did 

not  go  to  the  depot  but  Billy  Mcl^amara  was  there 
to  take  care  of  that  end  of  it.  We  told  the  girls 
that  this  woman  was  the  leading  lady  with  a 
musical  show  which  was  to  travel  through  the 
South,  and  that  she  was  to  take  them  to  the  place 
where  they  were  to  start  from,  and  that  they  were 
to  be  chorus  girls  in  the  show.  That  is  the  way 
we  got  the  girls,  because  they  were  '  stage-struck,' 

"McKamara  said  that  this  woman  was  from 
Beaumont,  Texas,  and  was  going  to  take  them  down 

there.     Her  name  was  Myrtle and  she  runs 

a  '  house  '  down  there." 

"  Well,  tell  how  you  got  the  girls,"  I  asked. 

"  The  ones  1  got  I  met  in  dance  halls  and  by 
hanging  around  nickel  theatres.  At  the  dance 
halls  I  would  size  up  a  girl  and  get  a  dance  with 


56         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

her  and  see  whether  or  not  she  was  stage-struck 
and,  if  she  was,  I  would  tell  her  about  the  chance 
there  was  to  go  out  with  this  road  company- 
through  the  South.  There  are  always  a  lot  of  girls 
hanging  around  the  nickel  theatres  who  are  stage- 
struck  and  it  is  dead  easy  to  get  them. 

"  They  didn't  know  who  I  was  for  I  gave  them 
a  fake  name ;  so  I  never  heard  from  any  of  them 
after  they  went  South.  They  may  be  there  yet 
for  all  I  know." 

"  Will  you  explain  the  various  methods  used 
by  all  these  fellows  you  have  named  in  securing 
gu'ls  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"Yes,"  he  replied;  "they  all  have  about  the 
same  system  ;  only  they  change  it  to  suit  the  gu'l. 
In  the  summer  time  they  go  out  to  the  amusement 
parks  and  summer  gardens  around  here.  They 
also  work  the  country  towns  and  near-by  cities. 
In  winter  time  they  roam  about  the  large  stores, 
attend  nickel  shows  and  dance  halls,  and  get  the 
girls  in  these  places.  Different  methods  are  used 
according  to  the  girl  they  are  trying  to  get.  Some- 
times they  invite  the  girls  to  the  theatre  or  out  for 
a  drive,  or  something  like  that,  and  'con'  them 
along  by  telling  them  that  they  are  the  sons  of 
wealthy  men  or  that  they  are  representing  some 
theatrical  management,  or  something, — any  way 
to  get  them.  If  the  girl  is  one  of  the  '  love  sick  ' 
kind,  they  pretend  they  are  in  love  with  her,  and 
in  most  cases  they  promise  to  marry  her.  If  the 
girl  is  looking  for  a  job,  they  are  always  '  Johnny 


The  Confession  of  a  Pander  57 

on  the  spot '  with  an  offer  of  a  good  position.  The 
fellows  offer  the  girls  employment  to  their  liking, 
which  of  course  is  a  trick,  which  they  never  intend 
to  carry  out.  The  whole  idea  is  to  get  the  girl's 
confidence  and  the  fellow  will  say  anything  in 
order  to  do  this.  I  know  fellows  who  have  gone 
across  the  Lake  to  some  of  the  summer  resorts  and 
got  girls  to  come  back  with  them,  the  guis  think- 
ing that  they  Avere  going  to  go  upon  the  stage,  and 
in  one  case  I  know  of,  they  took  the  girl  out  to 
measure  her  for  a  theatrical  dress  and  put  a  '  house 
dress'  upon  her  and  in  that  way  got  her  street 
clothes  away. 

"  After  they  have  handed  out  a  line  of  talk  and 
once  got  them  started,  if  the  girls  are  hard  to  land, 
they  use  '  knock  out '  drops.  Sometimes  they  tell 
the  girls  they  are  going  to  take  them  out  to  meet 
a  '  lady  friend,'  and  if  the  girls  are  flighty  and 
wayward,  the  boys  argue  Avith  them,  telling  them 
of  the  big  money  they  can  make.  After  they  get 
them  to  their  flats  (clearing  houses)  they  get  the 
woman  who  runs  a  house  to  come  over,  and  she 
shows  the  girl  her  diamonds  and  fine  dress,  and 
teUs  how  easily  the  girl  can  get  some  lil^e  them 
without  any  work,  and  the  girl  is  induced  to  go 
with  her.  But  of  course  they  could  only  do  that 
when  the  girl  has  a  sort  of  leaning  that  way  and 
wants  to  see  what  the  inside  of  one  of  those  houses 
looks  like. 

"When  the  fellows  make  the  girls  think  they 
are  in  love   with  them,   they  take  them  out  to 


58        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

dances,  dinners  and  the  theatres  several  times, 
until  they  get  the  girls'  confidence  and  then  they 
finally  get  them  to  their  flats,  and  later  sell  them 
into  the  houses. 

"  Sometimes  they  really  marry  the  girl  too,  be- 
cause they  say  they  cannot  arrest  a  fellow  for 
putting  a  married  girl  into  a  house.  One,  for 
example,  is  Jack  Daily.  He  married  a  gui  by 
the  name  of  Hazel.  He  took  her  to  Indiana  some 
place  and  married  her,  because  they  thought  she 
was  too  young  to  keep  in  the  house  and  he  got  paid 
for  marrying  her.  Harry  Balding  knows  all  about 
it.  There  are  lots  of  other  fellows  who  have 
married  girls,  but  I  can't  remember  what  their 
names  are  now." 

(Then  he  gave  a  list  of  flats  and  hotels  where 
these  men  might  be  found.) 

"  Well,"  I  said  to  him,  "  how  do  they  keep  the 
girls  in  these  houses  ?  " 

"  You  see,  the  girls  are  in  debt.  From  the  time 
they  first  get  into  the  house  they  are  in  debt,  and  they 
generally  keep  them  in  as  long  as  they  are  in  debt. 

"  They  don't  let  them  out  until  they  are  sure 
they  won't  run  away.  If  they  do  let  them  out  the 
pimp,  or  the  felloAV  who  put  them  there,  goes  with 
them  to  see  that  they  come  back  all  right.  They 
can't  tell  any  one  when  they  are  out  with  them  how 
they  are  being  kept.  You  see,  most  tunes  they  are 
afraid  to,  and,  if  they  did,  people  wouldn't  believe 
them  anyway.  After  they  have  been  there  for  a 
while  they  don't  care  to  leave,  either  because  they 


The  Confession  of  a  Pander  59 

learn  to  like  it  or  because  they  are  ashamed  to  go 
among  respectable  people  again." 

"  What  are  they  in  debt  for  when  they  go 
there  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  First  they  are  in  debt  for  the  money  the  pro- 
prietor of  the  house  pays  the  fellow  who  brings 
them  there,"  was  his  reply. 

"  Do  they  make  the  girls  pay  for  being  brought 
into  the  houses  ?  "  I  continued. 

"  Sure.  The  girl  has  to  pay  the  amount  that  it 
costs  the  house  for  getting  her.  Then,  after  that 
she  has  to  pay  for  all  the  parlour  clothes  that  she 
wears,  and  she  always  has  to  buy  them  from  the 
house.  They  charge  them  about  five  or  ten  times 
more  than  they  are  worth  and  that  makes  the 
amount  run  up  pretty  high  right  at  first.  Then,  the 
pimp  that  puts  her  there  and  keeps  her  there,  keeps 
borrowing  money  from  the  house  on  her  and  that  is 
charged  against  her.  I  guess  the  house  allows  the 
pimp  to  borrow  money  on  her  for  two  reasons. 
One  is,  that  the  house  wants  to  keep  her  in  debt ; 
and  the  other  is  that  they  like  to  have  a  pimp  look 
after  her  so  that  if  she  gets  unruly  or  anything  like 
that  he  can  make  her  behave.  It  is  up  to  him  to 
keep  her  from  running  away  until  she  gets  so  that 
she  doesn't  want  to." 

"  Are  the  fellows  cruel  to  the  girls  ?  " 

"  Oh,  yes,"  he  drawled.  "  They  often  have  to 
beat  them  to  make  them  obey.  In  this  way  the 
girls  are  afraid  to  try  to  get  away,  and  besides  they 
have  the  only  clothes  that  they  could  wear  out  on 


6o        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

the  street  locked  up  and  they  won't  give  the 
clothes  to  them.  I  have  seen  them  beat  the  girls 
and  kick  them  too,  when  they  got  too  fresh  and 
wanted  to  go  home." 

"  Are  there  any  women  as  well  as  men  securing 
girls  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Yes,  a  good  many  of  them,"  was  the  way  he 
answered.  (He  then  gave  the  names  of  two 
women,  the  only  names  he  could  recall,  who  were 
procuring  girls.) 

"  How  many  fellows  were  up  in  the  flat  when 
you  were  arrested  ?  "  I  asked  at  last. 

"  We  were  not  all  m  one  flat  when  we  got  caught. 
They  raided  two  places  after  Mona  got  away  from 
that  house  and  told  the  police.  They  caught  seven 
of  us  in  two  flats.  When  the  boys  in  the  first  flat 
got  arrested,  one  of  them  called  up  on  the  tele- 
phone and  '  tipped  it  off  '  that  we  were  about  to  get 
'  pinched.'  But  we  thought  they  were  '  kidding  us,' 
or  otherwise  we  might  have  got  away. 

"  I  know  Mona  M well.    She  was  Balding's 

'  brod '  and  he  had  her  in  a  house,  but  I  did  not 
know  that  she  had  got  out  of  there  until  we  all  got 
arrested." 

In  order  to  protect  this  young  man,  I  did  not 
allow  this  confession  to  become  kno\ATi  to  the  public, 
but  used  the  information  which  I  received  from  him 
to  great  advantage.  It  was  the  first  real,  detailed 
information  that  I  had  received  from  a  procurer 
for  vice  dens  that  an  enormous  system  in  the 
traffic  in  girls  existed. 


The  Confession  of  a  Pander  61 

It  is  now  over  two  years  and  a  half  since  Hemy 
made  this  confession,  and  I  feel  certain  that  the 
fear  which  he  evidently  felt  so  keenly  at  that  time 
has  been  cast  aside. 

For  some  weeks  afterwards  I  was  busy  working 
on  the  "  tips  "  which  I  gleaned  from  his  statements, 
and  in  checking  them  up  I  found  his  confession  to 
be  absolutely  true  and  trustworthy. 

That  evening  for  the  first  time,  perhaps,  Mr. 
Singleton's  eyes  were  opened  to  this  great  problem, 
which  society  must  sooner  or  later  face  in  the 
most  bitter  fight,  not  with  arms  and  musketry, 
but  a  fight  against  the  shrewd  and  cunning  men 
that  would  make  degenerates  of  our  young  men 
and  boys  and  prostitutes  of  our  women  and  girls. 

As  the  boy  was  returned  to  his  cell  that  night, 
his  father  put  his  arms  around  him  and  kissing  him, 
said  : 

"  I  hope  you  have  told  all  you  know  about  this 
affair." 

I  took  the  old  father  by  the  hand  and  told  him  I 
would  do  all  I  could,  taking  into  consideration  my 
duty  to  the  people  of  the  state,  to  help  his  boy  be- 
come a  better  man. 

As  we  closed  the  door  of  my  office  and  walked  out 
into  the  court  room  that  night,  Mr.  Singleton  said  : 

"  I  beUeve  that  you  have  unearthed  the  greatest 
curse  to  society  that  civilization  has  ever  known,  and 
I  hope  you  will  stick  to  it  to  the  finish." 


VI 

SECRETS  REVEALED  BY  OTHER  PANDERS 

THE  next  morning  an  excellent  opportunity 
afforded  itself  of  checking  up  the  truth  of 
the  statements  made  to  me  by  Henry. 

Making  my  way  through  the  little  groups  that 
gather  every  morning  in  front  of  the  Harrison 
Street  Police  Station  to  watch  the  patrol  wagon 
back  up  to  the  sidewalk  and  unload  the  prisoners 
who  are  brought  from  various  parts  of  the  city,  I 
had  turned  to  the  steps  which  lead  to  the  court 
room,  when  a  tall  lady  dressed  in  black  touched  my 
coat  sleeve.  She  said  she  wished  to  speak  with  me. 
I  told  her  to  come  into  my  office. 

Turning  on  the  lights  I  noticed  that  there  were 
tears  in  her  eyes,  which  she  struggled  to  keep  back. 
Her  lips  were  quivering  with  suppressed  emotion, 
and  her  refined  face  bore  the  expression  of  deep 
grief.     She  seemed  at  a  loss  for  words. 

"  What  can  I  do  for  you,  madam  ?  "  I  inquired. 

She  then  told  me  that  she  had  come  there  in  be- 
half of  her  son,  who  was  Harr}'-  Balding.  She  said 
that  she  had  advised  him  to  make  a  complete  con- 
fession in  order  that  young  men  might  be  saved 
from  becoming  the  cat's-paw  of  the  denizens  of 
vice,  and  that  other  mothers  might  be  spared  the 
shame  and  disgrace  that  she  was  enduring.  She 
62 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      63 

did  not  ask  for  leniency,  nor  did  she  ask  for  mercy 
for  the  boy,  for  she  realized  that  that  was  hopeless. 
Her  mission  was  that  of  bringing  out  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  custom  of  servitude  in  the  red  light  dis- 
trict, which  her  son  had  confided  to  her.  I  told 
her  that  I  would  talk  with  her  son  that  afternoon. 

Then  I  heard  the  sound  of  the  gavel,  and  the  cry 
of  the  court  bailiff : 

"  Hear  ye !  Hear  ye  !  This  honourable  court  is 
now  in  session." 

I  hurried  to  the  court  room  as  the  first  case  was 
called. 

The  same  afternoon,  at  about  four  o'clock,  in  the 
presence  of  Mr.  LaBree,  a  court  reporter  connected 
with  the  State's  Attorney's  office,  I  took  the  con- 
fession of  Harry  Balding. 

Balding  was  then  confined  in  the  county  jail, 
waiting  to  be  sent  to  the  house  of  correction  to 
serve  his  sentence  for  his  connection  with  the  Mona 

M case.     He  had  been  convicted  June  first 

and  we  had  held  him  in  the  county  jail  for  two 
weeks  pending  the  investigation  of  more  serious 
charges,  involving  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary, 
but  we  failed  to  get  the  additional  information  upon 
which  to  predicate  another  charge  against  him. 

As  he  was  led  into  the  office  by  a  deputy  sheriff 
from  the  county  jail,  I  looked  at  hun  steadily  and 
wondered  how  such  a  fine-looking  fellow  could 
have  been  led  into  the  business  of  girl  slave  traffick- 
ing. He  was  rather  tall  and  well  dressed,  and  had 
light  hair  and  clean,  even  features.     His  complexion 


64        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

was  clear  and  rosy,  and  he  had  the  bearing  of  a 
young  man  who  had  come  from  a  good  home  and 
had  been  well  brought  up. 

I  excused  the  deputy  sheriff  and  asked  Baldmg  to 
sit  do"WTi.  I  then  told  him  that  his  mother  had  re- 
quested me  to  have  him  brought  up  to  my  office 
and  that  he  must  understand  that  any  statement 
that  he  might  make  could  not  in  the  least  lessen  the 
sentence  that  had  been  imposed  on  him  and  that  it 
must  also  be  understood  that  he  was  making  the 
confession  of  his  own  free  will  and  accord. 

He  said  that  he  understood  all  that  and  for  his 
mother's  sake  he  wished  to  clear  his  conscience  as 
much  as  possible  and  "  tell  the  whole  business." 

I  had  been  fortified  by  the  facts  given  me  the 

night  before  by  Henry ,  and  I  had  in  my 

possession  the  names  of  several  girls  who  had  been 
procured  and  the  names  of  a  great  many  of  the 
traffickers  and  their  haunts.  Having  these,  I  was 
able  to  interrogate  Balding  better,  and  to  get  from 
him  facts  which  I  wished  to  know.  He  did  not 
know  that  I  had  the  confession  which  the  young 
man  made  the  night  before,  and  I  was  interested  to 
know  whether  or  not  he  might  verify  the  state- 
ments that  Henry  made.  I  knew  that  they  had  not 
had  a  chance  to  talk  with  each  other,  as  they  had 
been  separated  and  neither  had  seen  the  other  since 
the  trial. 

As  the  full  confession  comprises  many  type-, 
written  pages,  it  seems  best  not  to  reproduce  it  here 
in  full.     The  confession  in  part  is  given  exactly  as 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      65 

Balding  told  it,  no  attempt  being  made  to  correct 
grammatical  phrases : 

"  All  the  fellows  around  there  (meaning  the  red 
light  district)  were  doing  that.  "We  did  nothing 
else  but  just  go  out  and  look  around  town  and  see 
if  we  could  get  a  girl  and  take  her  out  there. 
Whenever  we  got  a  girl  out  there,  they  would  give 
us  so  much  money  and  promise  all  the  police  pro- 
tection in  Chicago  and  tell  us  that  if  we  got  arrested 
they  would  go  down  there  and  get  us  out,  and 
everything  like  that,  fix  it  up  for  us.  That  is  what 
they  would  keep  telling  us  all  the  time,  if  we  got 
into  trouble,  but  when  I  did  get  into  trouble  they 
tried  to  make  a  '  fall  guy  '  out  of  me." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  securing  girls  ?  "  I 
asked. 

"  About  a  year." 

Then  he  continued  in  answer  to  another  question : 

"  Yes,  I  know  Hazel  Daily ;  she  was  not  of  age 
when  she  went  into  the  house,  and  of  course  they 
cannot  keep  them  when  they  are  not  old  enough. 
She  was  all  right ;  she  was  a  good-looking  girl  and 
she  was  a  good  girl  for  the  house,  but  she  was  only 
seventeen  years  old,  and  they  thought  the  police 
some  time  might  suddenly  run  across  her  and  find 
out ;  so  the  proprietor  got  this  Jack  Daily,  Stephens 
and  Billy  Mcl^amara,  and  they  took  this  girl  to 
Hammond,  Indiana,  and  this  girl  gets  married  to 
Jack  Daily,  and  they  brought  her  back  there  to  the 
house  and  Jack  Daily  got  ten  dollars  for  marrying 
her. 


66        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  I  know  other  fellows  who  brought  girls  there 
and  the  keepers  gave  them  money  for  bringing 
them  there."  (Here  he  named  several  of  his  fel- 
low procurers,  several  of  them  being  the  same  that 
Henry had  told  about  the  night  before.) 

"  Then  there  is  Jack  Pitt,  who  was  found  guilty 
the  other  morning  for  procuring  girls."  (He  also 
told  the  names  of  those  for  whom  Pitt  has  pro- 
cured.) 

"  Then,  Billy  MclSTamara  was  up  at  Cripple  Creek 
last  fall  and  he  brought  a  girl  back  to  Chicago.  I 
can't  remember  her  name ;  anyway  he  brought  her 
back  and  put  her  in  a  house  on  Armour  Avenue. 
This  girl  was  not  of  age  either.  She  is  now  in 
Buffalo,  New  York.     McNamara  sold  Kuby  Shea 

in  the house  too.     He  used  to  come  over  and 

he  would  tell  us  how  he  used  to  get  her  money. 
He  went  down  there  and  got  a  hundred  and  fifty 
dollars  on  her  at  one  time.  Billy  McNamara  also 
had  a  little  girl  named  Babe  LaBelle  in  the  same 
place.  I  think  that  was  her  name ;  I  know  they 
called  her  Babe  any^vay.  I  know  he  had  her 
there ;  I  don't  know  whether  he  put  her  there  or 
not ;  I  suppose  he  did  though." 

"  Where  is  she  now  ?  "  was  asked. 

"  I  don't  know.  Her  folks  found  her  and  she 
was  taken  out  of  the  house." 

"  Did  you  ever  have  any  women  helping  you  se- 
cure girls  ?  "  I  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir,"  Balding  answered,  "  but  I  don't  know 
where  they  are  living  now.     We  were  in  a  restau- 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      67 

rant  one  night  eating  supper  and  a  girl  was  sitting 
over  there,  I  don't  know  her  name.  The  woman 
who  was  helping  me  went  over  to  her  and  got  ac- 
quainted, and  made  an  appointment  with  the  girl 
to  meet  her  down-town  one  day  and  this  gu'l  came 
out  with  her  and  they  came  over  to  my  flat  and  I 
took  her  to  a  sporting  house. 

" '  Lefty '  Jones  worked  with  me  most  of  the 
time,  and  we  got  from  ten  to  fifty  dollars  for 
bringing  in  girls.  They  used  to  come  to  us  fellows 
and  say  :  '  Go  around  and  get  some  girls.'  They 
would  always  tell  us  that  and  give  us  boys  money  to 
go  out  and  spend  and  see  if  we  could  get  any  girls." 
I  then  asked : 

"  Where  would  you  usually  get  these  girls  ?  " 

He  gazed  at  me  a  moment  and  casually  remarked, 

"  Oh !    The  majority  of  them  were  gu^ls  we  met 

on  the  street.     We  would  go  around  to  these  parks, 

penny  arcades  and  nickel  theatres  and  sometimes 

in  the  stores  and  if  we  saw  a  couple  of  gu4s  that 

looked  good  to  us  we  would  go  and  talk  to  them. 

I  will  say  this  much  for  myself,  that  I  never  took 

any  girl  away  from  her  home  and  took  her  down 

there.     The  girls  I  took  down  there  I  met  in  the 

stores  and  on  the  streets." 

It  was  evident  from  the  confession  of  Henry 

and  Harry  Balding,  and  from   the  facts 

which  had  been  brought  out  on  the  trial  of  the 

cases    in    which    Mona    M had    figured    so 

prominently,  that  the  procuring,  selling  and  en- 
slaving of  girls  and  women  had  reached  enormous 


68        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

proportions.  Kot  only  were  the  cases,  which  had 
heretofore  been  tried,  not  exceptional  instances,  but 
the  facts  which  missionaries  and  slum  workers  had 
found  to  be  true  in  quite  a  few  cases  were  probably 
true  in  the  lives  of  countless  unfortunates.  Not 
only  was  there  a  system  of  holding  girls  by  means 
of  an  unjust  debt  thrust  upon  them,  but  there  was 
a  system  as  well  of  procuring  girls.  Here  were 
the  names  and  addresses  of  nearly  a  hundred  men 
who  were  engaged  in  this  nefarious  system  for 
their  livelihood,  and  all  of  them  working  along 
practically  the  same  lines.  Under  our  loose  social 
system,  they  had  little  difficulty  in  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  their  proposed  victims  in  all  the 
places  where  they  were  to  be  found  unescorted,  in 
public  dance  halls,  nickel  theatres,  amusement 
parks,  and  even  in  places  where  they  were  em- 
ployed in  their  honest  efforts  to  make  a  living. 
The  procurers,  knowing  human  weakness,  worked 
along  lines  of  least  resistance  to  secure  the  confi- 
dence of  the  girls.  They  appealed  to  their  most 
evident  desires  :  love,  vanity,  ambition,  "  any  way 
to  get  them."  And  once  started,  they  stopped  at 
nothing  in  their  efforts  to  land  the  girls  in  houses 
of  ill  fame.  And  further,  here  were  the  names  of 
fifty  girls  who  had  been  procured  and  sold  into 
lives  of  shame. 

Another  confession,  that  of  Dora  Douglas,  made 
soon  after  she  had  been  sent  to  the  Bridewell,  in 
January  of  1908,  probably  throws  more  light  on 
the    true    condition  of    enslaved  girls  than   any 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      69 

amount  of  testimony  adduced  upon  the  trials  of 
the  various  cases.  Her  confession,  as  here  re- 
printed, was  written  by  this  procuress  for  the 
National  Prohibitionist,  and  was  published  in 
the  issue  of  that  journal  for  January  28,  1909. 
Previous  to  this  time,  however,  Dora  Douglas  had 
made  similar  statements  to  Miss  Florence  Mabel 
Dedrick,  the  rescue  worker  who  has  been  doing  a 
great  deal  of  work  in  the  district  in  the  last  sev- 
eral months,  and  to  Honourable  James  P.  Harrold, 
the  Assistant  State's  Attorney  who  prosecuted  the 
case. 

The  particular  case  in  which  Dora  Douglas  had 
been  found  guilty  was  that  in  which  a  young  girl 

by  the  name  of  Kitty  S was  brought  from 

Milwaukee  to  Chicago  and  sold  into  one  of  the 
South  Side  resorts.  Dora  Douglas  was  sentenced 
to  one  year  in  the  house  of  correction,  where  she 
was  when  the  following  confession  was  made. 

"  I  am  writing  this  confession  to  the  world  from 
behind  the  bars  in  that  gloomy  pile  of  buildings 
alongside  the  Drainage  Canal,  where  Chicago  every 
year  spends  some  millions  of  dollars  to  protect  her- 
self from  the  criminal  classes  which  she  constantly 
creates  and  breeds. 

"  I  am  in  prison  convicted  of  being  what  is  com- 
monly kno-vvn  as  a  '  white  slave  trader,'  and  I  was 
justly  contacted  and  was  guilty  of  the  offenses 
charged. 

"  And  having  made  this  confession,  let  me  intro- 
duce myself. 


70        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  Behold  me,  a  very  common  sort  of  a  woman, 
twenty-nine  years  old,  an  ex-school-teacher,  born 
and  piously  brought  up  in  the  good  state  of  Ar- 
kansas, fakly  well  educated,  and,  until  within  the 
last  few  months,  almost  inexperienced  in  the  ways 
of  the  wicked  world. 

"  Six  years  ago,  in  my  Arkansas  home,  I  married 
a  man  whom  I  believed  to  be  in  every  way  worthy 
of  the  respect  and  love  that  I  gave  him,  and,  bid- 
ding good-bye  to  my  mother  and  my  childhood 
friends  in  the  old  home,  went  with  him  to 
St.  Louis. 

"  I  wonder  if  the  good  men  who  let  the  saloons 
flourish  in  all  our  cities  and  excuse  themselves  with 
the  assertion  that  if  a  man  will  drink  it  is  his  own 
business,  and  that  if  he  makes  a  fool  of  himself  he 
is  the  only  one  that  suffers — I  wonder  if  those  men 
really  know  what  they  are  doing  for  thousands  of 
women  who  do  not  drink  but  who  suffer  ? 

"  Years  ago,  somewhere  I  read  an  article  about 
the  saloons  written  by  some  great  minister  or 
bishop,  whose  name  I  have  forgotten,  and,  indeed, 
I  have  forgotten  most  of  what  he  said,  but  I  re- 
member he  did  say  that  the  victims  of  the  saloon 
are  willing  victims. 

"  Great  God !  I  have  been  a  victim  and  God 
knows  I  never  was  willing ! 

"  I  found  that  my  husband  was  a  drunkard.  A 
railroad  man  with  a  good  '  job,'  able  to  earn  a  com- 
fortable living  for  himself  and  me,  he  never  for  a 
day  could  be  depended  upon.     Many  a  morning 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      71 

did  he  kiss  me  good-bye,  leaving  me  the  unpression 
that  he  had  gone  to  his  work,  when  it  would  be 
three  days,  a  week,  a  month,  sometimes  three 
months  before  I  saw  him  again,  though  I  might  be 
in  the  sorest  straits  for  the  necessities  of  life. 
Three  times  he  did  this  when  he  knew  that  I  was 
so(jn  to  become  a  mother.  Once,  after  three 
months'  absence,  I  heard  from  him  in  a  hospital  in 
another  city.  I  went  to  him,  brought  him  home 
and  when  he  was  able  to  work,  gave  him  out  of 
my  own  earnings  money  to  pay  his  board  until  pay- 
day (for  his  work  would  oblige  him  to  work  in  an- 
other town)  and  he  went  away  and  I  never  saw 
hun  again  for  months. 

"  Forced  to  work  for  a  living,  I  came  to  Chicago, 
finding  a  position  in  a  legitimate  business,  although, 
unfortunately  it  was  the  sort  of  a  business  that 
brought  me  into  contact  with  many  people  of  bad 
morals,  and  tended  to  deteriorate  my  own  ideals. 

"  Here  in  Chicago,  while  I  was  buying  a  railroad 
ticket  one  day  in  a  ticket  broker's  office,  I  was  in- 
troduced by  the  clerk  to  a  man  who  appeared  to 
be  a  gentleman,  with  the  suggestion  that  he  would 
be  willing  to  do  for  me  a  slight  service  which  I 
needed  at  the  moment,  regarding  my  baggage.  A 
fcAv  weeks  later,  this  man,  whom  I  had  no  reason 
to  suspect  of  any  evil  motive,  sought  me  with  the 
offer  of  a  good  place  to  work.  He  promised  me  a 
good  salary,  and  the  offer  was  specially  attractive 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  I  was  then  without  work, 
and  I  accepted  the  place  in  perfect  good  faith. 


72         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  I  want  to  emphasize  what  I  now  say  for  the 
benefit  of  those  who  may  read  these  Lines  who  are 
parents  of  young  girls. 

"  I  suppose  I  may  claim  to  be  a  reasonably  in- 
telligent woman,  with  a  fah'  education,  some  years 
of  observation  of  the  world  and  a  little  opportunity 
to  know  the  world's  wickedness,  but  I  was  at  that 
time  absolutely  ignorant  of  the  existence  of  such  a 
thing  as  a  business  in  vice. 

"  I  had  never  heard  that  girls  were  bought  and 
sold. 

"  I  did  not  know  the  character  of  what  are  called 
*  disorderly  houses.' 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  good  people,  pious  fathers 
and  mothers,  who  let  their  girls  grow  up  and  go 
out  into  the  world  without  a  word  of  real  instruc- 
tion that  will  protect  them  in  such  crises  which 
may  come  in  life  to  any  woman,  are  not  wholly 
innocent, — I  am  tempted  to  say  are  frightfully 
guilty  of  the  destruction  of  their  own  daughters. 

"  Shall  I  not  say,  too,  that  the  pious  fathers  of 
this  great  city  who  allow  the  enormous  slave 
markets  where  girls  are  bought  and  sold  to  exist, 
who  allow  the  city  government  and  the  police 
power  to  remain  in  the  hands  of  men  who  are 
fattening  on  the  bodies  and  souls  of  these  girls, — 
must  I  not  say,  and  must  I  not  say  it  so  that  it  will 
sound  like  a  shriek  coming  from  these  dismal  old 
walls,  that  these  fathers  are  murdering  and  damn- 
ing their  own  daughters  ? 

"  To  make  a  long  story  short,  and  to  tell  a  hid^ 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      73 

ous  tale  in  a  few,  plain  words,  I  accepted  the 
proposition  and  found  myself  installed  in  one  of 
the  protected  vice  dens  of  Chicago  as  housekeeper 
and  the  special  personal  slave  of  this  man,  whom  I 
now  found  to  be  a  slave  trader,  the  practical  owner 
of  other  women  and  girls  in  various  dives,  as  well 
as  the  driver  of  gangs  of  procurers.  This  man  al- 
most owned  me.  My  salary — such  small  parts  of 
it  as  I  got — went  into  his  pocket  upon  one  excuse 
or  another,  while  I  was  subject  to  his  brutal  will 
constantly. 

"  I  will  not  shock  my  readers  by  telling  the  de- 
tails of  my  horrid  life  in  that  place,  but  I  must 
give  them  some  facts  that  ought  to  be  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  unsuspecting  decent  people  who  sit 
quietly  and  virtuously  in  their  own  homes,  while  a 
slaughter  more  terrible  than  Herod  ever  dreamed 
of  goes  on  unceasingly. 

"I  am  asked  to  say  whether  the  unfortunate 
girls  in  these  places  are  slaves  in  the  sense  that 
they  cannot  get  away.  My  answer  to  that  must 
depend  upon  your  interpretation  of  '  cannot.' 

"  In  my  own  case  there  was  never  a  time  when  I 
could  not  have  walked  out  of  the  building,  had  I 
chosen  to  do  so,  but  my  promised  salary  was 
always  in  arrears  and  I  was  penniless,  with  no- 
where to  go  and  no  friends. 

"  To  walk  out  on  a  winter's  day  into  the  streets 
of  Chicago  with  nothing  with  which  to  buy  a  meal 
and  no  shelter  and  no  friends  under  the  wide, 
pitiless  sky,  is  a  heroic  course  to  which  some  res- 


74        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

olute  Spartan  matron  might  be  driven  in  protec- 
tion of  her  virtue,  but  it's  a  course  which  can 
hardly  be  expected  from  a  mistreated,  deluded, 
ignorant,  disgraced,  modern  American  girl. 

"And  it  must  be  understood  that  my  situation 
was  very  different  from  that  of  the  '  girls.'  I  was 
in  the  position  of  a  superintendent.  They  were 
under  me.  What  would  have  been  possible  for  me 
was  practically  impossible  for  them. 

"  To  begin  with :  !No  inmate  of  these  vice  dens 
is  allowed  to  have  clothing  with  which  she  could 
appear  on  the  street.  It  is  taken  away  from  her  by 
fraud  or  by  foroe,  as  soon  as  she  arrives,  and  is 
locked  up.  She  never  sees  it  until  she  is  regarded 
as  thoroughly  trustworthy  and  sure  to  come  back 
if  she  gets  out. 

"  Then,  too,  she  is  in  debt.  As  soon  as  she  ar- 
rives at  the  house,  an  account  is  opened  with  her, 
although,  perhaps,  she  never  sees  the  books.  She 
is  charged  with  the  railroad  fare  that  has  been  paid 
to  bring  her  to  the  city ;  she  is  charged  with  the 
price  that  has  been  paid  for  her  to  the  thief  who 
betrayed  and  stole  her ;  she  is  charged  for  the  al- 
leged garments  that  are  given  her  in  exchange  for 
her  clothing — charged  four  times  the  price  that 
they  cost. 

"  Of  course,  the  police  will  tell  you  nowadays 
that  the  old  debt  system  has  been  abolished,  and 
that  girls  are  not  allowed  to  be  in  debt  to  the  house 
where  they  are  kept,  and  it  may  be  that  a  sort  of 
fiction  is  maintained,  by  which,  if  an  investigation 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      i^ 

were  forced,  the  dive  keeper  would  pretend  to  be  an 
agent  for  the  storekeeper  that  sells  the  supplies. 
But  the  condition  of  debt  is  none  the  less  real,  al- 
though as  always  it  be  fraudulent.  The  dive 
keeper,  the  storekeeper,  and  the  police  are  all  in 
partnership  in  it. 

"  Of  course,  it  is  not  lawful  to  keep  a  girl  a 
prisoner  because  she  happens  to  be  in  debt,  but  she 
is  made  to  believe  that  it  is.  She  is  told  strange 
stories  about  laws  that  are  enacted  for  the  govern- 
ment of  her  'class,'  and  she  recognizes,  all  too 
plainly,  the  power  of  the  arm  of  the  police  always 
outstretched  in  behalf  of  the  dive  keeper. 

"  Police  officers  come  and  go  in  the  dive.  They 
register  all '  inmates '  upon  arrival  and  give  formal, 
though,  of  course,  unlawful,  sanction  to  the  busi- 
ness. If  a  girl  becomes  refractory  and  the  dive 
keeper  threatens  her  with  the  vengeance  of  the 
police,  she  has  every  reason  to  believe  that  the 
threat  is  well  founded,  whether  it  is  or  not. 

"  If,  in  spite  of  all  this,  a  girl  should  be  brave 
enough  or  rash  enough  to  try  to  make  her  way  out 
of  the  dive,  and  escape,  almost  nude,  as  she  is  kept, 
into  the  street,  perhaps  she  would  be  allowed  to  go. 
Perhaps,  too,  the  police  might  not  bring  her  back, 
but  they  certainly  would  not  assist  her  escape ;  and 
if  they  did  not  force  her  back  into  the  den  from 
which  she  had  escaped  they  would  certainly  send 
her  to  prison. 

"  I  have  seen  dozens  of  girls  who  wanted  to  get 
out  from  these  dives,  wanted  to  leave  the  life  that 


76        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

they  were  living,  but  who,  under  the  conditions 
that  I  have  enumerated,  did  not — I  think  I  may 
fairly  say — could  not  do  it. 

"  I  had  been  in  my  position  as  housekeeper  but  a 
little  while  when  my  owner  discovered  that  I  could 
be  profitably  employed  in  another  line,  that  is,  in 
importing  slaves  from  other  cities. 

"  Some  months  before,  the  firm  for  which  I  was 
then  working  had  sent  me  to  Milwaukee  to  sell 
toilet  preparations,  and  this  business  had  brought 
me  in  contact  with  a  considerable  number  of  foolish 
young  women.  I  knew  that  some  of  them  were 
anxious  to  come  to  Chicago  and  I  was  sent  to 
Milwaukee  to  induce  them  to  come  and  bring  them 
with  me. 

"  I  made  several  such  journeys  to  Milwaukee  and 
other  cities,  bringing  a  number  of  victims  for  Chi- 
cago's slave  market.  I  attempt  no  defense  for  this 
infamous  work.  I  ask  for  no  moderation  of  judg- 
ment against  me,  but  I  feel  that  I  have  a  right  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  public  to  the  glaring  in- 
justice of  the  situation  that  puts  me  behind  these 
bars,  with  long  months  of  imprisonment  before  me, 
and  leaves  others  who  are  equally  guilty  with  me, 
and  who  are  equally  well  known  in  their  guilt,  to 
go  on  with  their  wicked  work. 

"  I  know  that  ignorance  of  the  law  is  no  excuse 
for  its  violation  but  I  was  certainly  ignorant  that  I 
was  breaking  any  law.  I  never  dreamed  of  it 
until,  just  before  my  arrest,  the  proprietress  of  one 
of  the  houses  from  which  a  girl   whom  I   had 


Secrets  Revealed  by  Other  Panders      77 

brought  to  the  city  had  run  away,  told  me  of  my 
danger.  I  asked  her  why  she  was  not  also  in 
danger,  and  she  replied  that  it  was  because  she 
carefully  followed  the  instructions  of  the  police  and 
maintained  an  ignorance  concerning  the  sources 
from  which  the  girls  were  brought  who  came  to 
her  house. 

"  I  may  or  may  not  be  believed  but  I  state  the 
truth  when  I  say  that  I  never  brought  to  this 
slavery  a  girl  whom  I  believed  to  be  an  innocent 
girl.  I  brought  only  girls  whom  I  found  in  bad 
surroundings,  usually  in  disorderly  saloons,  and  girls 
who  claimed  to  be  and  appeared  to  be  beyond  the 
protection  of  that  extremely  virtuous  law,  which 
our  wise  lawmakers  have  given  us,  known  as  the 
*  age  of  consent '  law.  How  any  sane  person  must 
hate  such  cursed  nonsense  as  such  a  law  ! 

"  Now,  let  me  ask  why,  why,  when  I  was  sent  as 
a  mere  agent  of  others,  when  I  brought  girls  from 
well-known  dens,  where  they  had  been  ruined, 
brought  them  into  a  recognized  slave  market,  where 
they  were  used  to  enrich  their  owners  and  the 
police — why,  while  the  slave  market  goes  on  and 
while  the  slave  owners  drive  their  new  gangs,  and 
while  the  police  keep  up  their  system  of  protection 
and  graft — why  am  I  locked  up  here  alone  ? 

"Now,  let  me  make  it  perfectly  clear  on  just 
what  ground  I  have  been  sent  to  prison.  I  was  con- 
victed under  what  is  known  as  the  '  pandering  act,' 
which  makes  it  an  offense  to  secure  an  inmate  for  a 
disorderly  resort  in  the  State  of  Illinois. 


78        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  I  was  guilty  and  the  protest  I  make  is  the  pro- 
test of  a  convict,  but  I  cry  out  to  the  good  people  to 
know  why,  if  I  must  be  behind  prison  walls  for 
procuring  an  inmate  for  such  a  place,  they  walk  free 
and  grow  rich  and  hold  offices  who  allow  such 
places  to  be. 

"If  it  be  a  crime  worthy  of  the  prison  to  secure 
an  inmate  for  a  vice  resort,  is  it  a  sure  proof  of 
public  and  private  virtue  that  vice  resorts  cover 
square  miles  of  this  city  and  the  city  government 
'  regulates  '  them  ? 

"Ten  long  months  hence,  when,  broken,  dis- 
graced, without  a  cent,  without  a  friend,  they  turn  me 
out  into  Chicago's  cold,  November  storms,  will  jus- 
tice have  been  vindicated,  will  some  great  and  good 
ends  have  been  attained  by  the  punishment  of  me — 
a  tool,  a  cat's-paw,  while  seven  thousand  saloons  and 
square  miles  of  houses  of  prostitution  have  gone  on 
in  their  bloody,  damning  work  under  sanction  of 
the  government  run  by  pious  men  ?  " 


YH 

HOW  WHITE  SLAVES  ARE  WON 

IN  the  making  of  white  slaves  there  are  three 
stages.  The  procurers  must  win  the  girls  by 
becoming  acquainted  and  gaining  their  con- 
fidence. Then,  they  must  get  them  into  the  im- 
moral houses.  Finally,  the  girls  must  be  kept  in 
those  houses. 

White  slaves  are  won  principally  by  three 
methods  used  by  the  panders.  The  baits  which 
the  procurers  flaunt  in  the  faces  of  their  proposed 
victims  are  love,  vanity  and  ambition. 

The  procurers,  by  pretending  to  be  in  love  with 
the  girls  whom  they  meet,  gain  their  confidence 
and  often  upon  a  promise  of  marriage  entice  them 
away  from  their  homes.  Mona  M and  Ade- 
laide McD were  \dctims  of  the  love  method. 

Those  girls  who  think  it  is  smart  to  flirt  are  won 
by  the  procurers  who  appeal  to  their  vanity  by 
praising  and  flattering  them,  and  by  telling  them 
how  good  looking  they  are,  how  beautiful  they 
would  look  in  elegant  clothes,  which,  they  say,  can 
easily  be  had  if  the  girls  will  follow  their  advice. 

This   was   true  in  the  case  of  Agnes  T ,  who, 

with  her  girl  friend,  went  to  a  dance  unaccompanied 

by  an  escort  and  after  she  was  there  flirted  with  a 

79 


8o        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

young  man.  She  said  the  young  man  "  jollied  "  her 
and  told  her  how  pretty  she  was.  The  compli- 
ments thus  paid  caused  her  to  esteem  his  friendship, 
and  when  he  invited  her  to  a  cafe  in  the  back  of  a 
saloon  she  went  with  him  willingly,  simply  because 
he  had  pleased  her  by  his  artful  gratifying  of  her 
vanity. 

The  panders  make  no  distinction  between  girls 
who  are  innocent,  quiet  and  modest  and  those  who 
are  more  wayward,  flirtatious  and  frivolous.  The 
procuring  of  the  former  adds  zest  and  sport  to  the 
hunt,  while  the  latter  are  easy  prey  for  them.  Girls, 
who  flirt  merely  for  the  fun  of  flirting,  who  go  to 
dinners  with  strangers  and  roam  about  the  streets 
at  night,  are  those  who  are  most  easily  won  by 
flattery  and  the  appeal  to  vanity. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  in  many  cases  that  the  girls 
have  a  leaning  towards  immoral  lives  before  they 
are  procured  by  the  panders.  Oftentimes  it  requires 
little  effort  on  the  part  of  the  slave  traders  to  in- 
duce such  girls  to  enter  houses  of  shame,  and  once 
in  they  are  held  as  slaves  in  the  most  revolting 
sense. 

Sometimes  the  girls  are  mystified  by  the  glare 
and  light  of  the  large  cities  after  night.  They 
love  to  be  among  fashionably  dressed  and  amuse- 
ment-loving people.  It  is  something  new  which  has 
come  into  their  lives.  They  have  a  feeling  of  un- 
rest until  they  have  tasted  of  the  fruit  of  gaiety, 
until  they  have  known  and  become  a  part  of  this 
new,  dazzling  world,     "When  the  pander  meets  such 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  81 

girls  as  these  he  has  little  trouble  in  deceiving  them 
and  leading  them  astray. 

Such    a  girl  was   Olga  H ,   who  came  to 

Chicago  just  to  see  the  sights.  She  had  gone  one 
evening  to  the  general  delivery  window  in  the  post- 
office.  Standing  in  the  lobby  there  was  a  little 
woman,  who  has  done  much  for  women  who  are 
outcasts  of  society.  This  woman  was  Florence 
Mabel  Dedrick,  who  was  on  the  lookout  for  young 
girls  who  might  be  approached  by  white  slave 
agents.  She  stepped  up  to  Olga  and  giving  her 
a  card  asked  the  girl  where  she  was  staying. 
The  minute  that  the  girl  gave  the  address  Miss 
Dedrick  recognized  that  it  was  a  disreputable  place. 
She  asked  the  girl  to  go  with  her  and  she  would 
get  her  a  better  room.  The  girl,  who  could  speak 
very  little  English,  immediately  consented,  showing 
that  she  was  very  easily  led. 

Then  Miss  Dedrick  learned  the  story  of  how  the 
girl  had  come  from  Kacine,  Wisconsin,  "  just  to  see 
Chicago."  When  she  arrived  here  she  flirted  with 
a  young  man,  evidently  a  pander,  who  took  her  to 
this  disreputable  place  to  get  a  room.  Miss  Dedrick 
went  over  to  the  room,  packed  up  the  girl's  clothes 
and  communicated  with  the  aunt  and  uncle  of  the 
girl,  with  whom  she  had  been  staying  in  Racine, 
Wisconsin.  At  first  these  people  seemed  to  be  very 
little  concerned  about  their  niece,  and  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  they  were  finally  interested  to  send 
for  her. 

The  girl  was  sent  back  to  Racine  in  charge  of  the 


82         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

conductor  on  the  train  and  the  police  of  that  city- 
were  notified  to  meet  her.  On  her  arrival  there  she 
told  the  police  that  she  didn't  like  it  because  she 
was  not  allowed  to  remain  in  Chicago  and  that  she 
was  fully  able  to  take  care  of  herself.  She  said  she 
had  come  to  America  in  the  first  place,  leaving  her 
father  and  mother  back  in  Denmark,  "  just  to  see 
America." 

Had  Olga  remained  a  day  or  two  longer  in 
Chicago  at  the  place  she  was  staying,  which  was 
filled  with  people  of  unsavoury  reputation,  there  is 
little  doubt  but  that  she  would  have  been  procured 
for  a  disorderly  house  and  would  have  gone  as  easily 
as  she  went  with  Miss  Dedrick  to  the  Pacific  Gar- 
den Mission. 

Flirting  just  for  the  fun  of  it,  Lydia  K became 

acquainted  with  a  street  car  conductor  as  she  was 
riding  out  to  her  home  on  the  North  Side  of  Chicago. 
This  girl,  who  was  less  than  eighteen  years  old, 
thought  it  was  great  fun  to  carry  on  a  flirtation 
and  so  she  rode  on  the  car  with  the  same  conductor 
many  times.  He  flattered  her  vanity  and  she  be- 
came enamoured  with  the  fellow  and  finally  he  took 
her  out  one  night  to  a  wine  supper,  got  her  under 
the  influence  of  liquor,  and  then  placed  her  in  a  dis- 
orderly resort  in  the  South  Side  red  light  district. 

When  her  daughter  did  not  return  home,  Lydia's 
mother  became  greatly  worried  and  went  to  Cap- 
tain Kane  of  the  Sheflield  Avenue  Police  Station  and 
secured  his  aid  in  hunting  her  daughter.  Captain 
Kane  suspected  that  the  girl  had  been  caught  by  a 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  83 

pander  and  he  made  inquiries  at  the  police  stations 
located  in  the  red  light  districts.  Finally  the  girl 
was  found  in  a  house  run  by  Frank  Lewis  and  his 
wife,  Eegina  Lewis,  who  were  tried  along  with  the 
street  car  conductor  at  the  Harrison  Street  Court, 
They  were  charged  with  "  harbouring  a  girl  under 
the  age  of  eighteen  for  immoral  purposes,"  and  the 
conductor  was  charged  with  "  contributing  to  her 
delinquency."  The  conductor  turned  State's  evi- 
dence and  testified  against  the  Lewises  and  they  were 
held  to  the  grand  jury.  The  girl  was  returned  to 
her  home  where  she  could  be  looked  after  by  her 
mother. 

In  February,  1908,  one  hundred  girls,  nearly  all 
of  them  under  twenty  years  of  age,  were  arrested  in 
a  series  of  raids  in  the  tough  districts  of  Pittsburg, 
Pennsylvania.  The  police  of  that  city  discovered 
that  many  of  them  were  employed  in  restaurants, 
shops  and  department  stores. 

Promises  of  good  times  and  fine  clothing  had 
been  made  to  them  by  women  engaged  in  the 
white  slave  traffic. 

Chief  of  Police  McQuaide  appealed  to  the  city's 
charitable  institutions  to  care  for  the  girls.  He  said 
that  most  of  them  were  so  young  that  there  was  still 
hope  for  their  reformation. 

One  of  the  drill  rooms  at  the  Central  Station  was 
converted  into  a  dining-room,  and  there  the  girls 
were  fed.  Another  room  was  turned  into  a  sitting- 
room  and  a  third  into  a  dormitory.  The  chief  sent 
the  following  notice  to  charitable  organizations : 


84        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  Kow  is  the  time  for  philanthropic  institutions 
and  charitably  disposed  women  to  come  forward 
and  show  their  sincerity  in  stamping  out  vice.  A 
helping  hand  and  respectable  shelter  will  do  more 
towards  the  moral  uplifting  of  this  city  than  any- 
thing else.  We  ask  all  persons  to  volunteer  their 
help." 

There  are  advertisements  in  the  papers  almost 
constantly  inquiring  for  daughters  who  have  disap- 
peared. Fearing  that  their  daughters,  after  disap- 
pearing from  Galesburg,  Illinois,  had  been  sold  into 
vice  slavery,  two  mothers  not  only  advertised  but 
also  journeyed  to  Chicago,  February  11,  1908,  to 
make  a  personal  search  for  the  missing  girls. 

The  parents  of  the  girls  said  that  their  daughters 
disappeared  in  January  after  being  seen  in  the  com- 
pany of  a  man  who  was  a  stranger  in  Galesburg. 
One  of  the  women  learned  that  the  girls  had  been 
brought  to  Chicago.  Upon  getting  this  informa- 
tion the  two  women  immediately  made  preparation 
to  follow  the  girls  here. 

"While  attending  school  in  Galesburg  the  daughters 
were  known  as  the  most  beautiful  girls  of  the  school. 
It  was  feared  their  beauty  had  attracted  the  atten- 
tion of  white  slave  agents  who  induced  them  by 
flattery  to  come  to  Chicago  and  then  had  sold  them 
into  immoral  houses.  Both  of  the  girls  were  sixteen 
years  old. 

Search  for  her  daughter  that  at  first  promised 

success  ended  when  the  mother  of  Clara  F , 

whose  daughter  had  disappeared  from  Chicago,  dis- 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  85 

covered  that  the  body  of  the  girl  had  been  buried 
in  a  St.  Louis  cemetery  after  death  had  ended  the 
disgrace  into  which  she  had  been  forced. 

The  mother,  whose  daughter  had  been  a  victim  of 
the  vanity  method  employed  by  the  panders,  made 
a  vow  over  her  daughter's  grave  that  she  would 
devote  her  life  to  avenging  the  wrongs  suffered  by 
her  girl  and  drag  to  justice  those  whom  she  charged 
were  responsible  for  her  fate.  She  saw  her  hopes 
partially  realized  when  the  grand  jury  returned  in- 
dictments against  Mary  Engelsberg,  alias  Mary 
Schwartz,  and  Israel  Zerber,  alias  Schwartz,  on 
charges  of  abduction. 

A  white  slave  investigation,  following  the  fif- 
teen-year-old girl's  death,  led  to  the  charge  against 
these  people. 

When  mother  and  daughter,  left  penniless  and 
practically  starving  in  a  little  Kussian  village  by  the 
death  of  the  husband  and  father,  came  to  America 
and  found  a  home  in  the  Chicago  ghetto,  Clara 

F ,  then  fourteen  years  old,  was  large  for  her 

age  and  remarkably  beautiful.  Her  beauty  was 
envied  by  her  girl  companions  and  she  was  much 
admu'ed  by  young  men. 

Among  the  latter,  according  to  the  story  told 
to  the  jurors,  was  Israel  Zerber.  He  whispered 
words  of  flattery  and  adoration  to  the  girl,  and 
won  the  friendship  of  the  struggling  mother. 
Then  it  was  charged  he  took  the  daughter  to  a 
St.  Louis  vice  resort. 

For  months  the  heart-broken  mother,  not  know* 


86         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

ing  where  her  girl  had  been  taken,  travelled  about 
the  country  in  search  of  her  child.  Finally  she 
obtained  trace  of  the  girl  in  St.  Louis. 

Confident  of  seeing  her  daughter  again,  she 
went  there  only  to  find  in  the  end  disappointment. 
She  discovered  that  her  daughter  had  died.  Bit 
by  bit  she  secured  the  required  evidence,  returned 
to  Chicago,  and  aided  by  Miss  Minnie  Lowe  and 
Miss  Minnie  Jacobs  of  the  Bureau  of  Personal 
Service,  wove  a  net  about  the  accused  man  and 
woman  and  caused  them  to  be  indicted. 

A  story  of  a  flirtation,  misplaced  confidence,  and 
a  dinner  with  wine  and  song  was  told  in  court  by 
Anna  H : 

"I  came  to  Chicago  from  Pittsburg,  expecting 
to  have  a  position  in  a  department  store.  On  the 
day  of  my  arrival  I  met  a  man  who  told  me  that 
he  knew  the  proprietor  of  the  store  where  I  ex- 
pected to  find  work.  He  invited  me  to  dine  with 
him  that  evening  and  I  accepted.  I  drank  a  glass 
or  two  of  wine.  Later  he  proposed  an  automobile 
ride.  The  next  thing  I  knew  I  was  in  a  house  on 
Armour  Avenue.  They  gave  me  some  short  dresses 
and  took  away  my  street  clothes.  When  I  ap- 
pealed to  the  madam  to  let  me  go,  she  said  I  owed 
her  two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  and  refused  even 
to  let  me  communicate  with  my  friends.  I  was 
forced  to  stay  in  this  house  because  they  said  they 
would  beat  me  if  I  tried  to  get  away.  I  would 
be  in  the  place  yet  but  for  an  older  girl,  who  has 
been  there  some  time,  lent  me  some  street  clothes 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  87 

and  I  was  able  to  run  away.  If  I  can  get  back 
to  my  family  in  Pittsburg,  I  will  stay  there." 

When  this  girl  escaped  from  the  resort  she  ap- 
peared at  the  police  station  thinly  dressed,  in  the 
clothes  she  had  borrowed,  and  appealed  to  the 
police  to  help  her  recover  her  clothing  and  jewelry 
from  the  keeper  of  the  place.  An  investigation 
was  made  immediately  and  the  madam  was  arrested 
and  convicted. 

Dr.  Caroline  Hedger  of  the  University  of  Chicago 
Settlement  once  told  the  story  of  two  girls  who  were 
also  won  by  desire  for  good  tunes  and  wine  dinners. 

"  I  know  of  a  girl  now  in  the  school  for  girls  in 
Geneva,  Illinois,  who  was  lured  into  a  disorderly 
place  by  a  man  and  sold  to  the  proprietor  there  for 
twenty-live  dollars,"  said  Dr.  Hedger. 

"  This  man  visited  the  waiting-rooms  of  big 
stores  and  in  this  way  got  acquainted  with  the  girl. 
She  went  to  a  '  dinner  party '  with  the  man,  in 
whom  she  had  placed  confidence,  but  she  did  not 
escape  from  the  place  in  which  he  left  her  for  five 
days." 

She  told  another  case  of  how  a  'New  York 
woman  went  to  work  in  a  large  mail  order  house 
and  lured  several  employees  to  dens  of  shame. 
She  took  a  young  country  girl,  who  had  recently 
come  to  the  city  and  had  obtained  work  in  the 
same  place,  out  for  a  night  of  revelry  with  men. 
The  girl,  upon  finding  herself  in  a  resort,  escaped, 
and  Dr.  Hedger  and  others  protected  her  until  they 
got  her  back  to  her  country  home. 


88        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

The  testimony  which  was  given  in  the  trial  of 
John  A.  Castel  and  Thomas  Harris,  who  pleaded 
guilty  and  were  sentenced  to  a  year  each  in  the 

house  of  correction  for  luring  Mary  K ,  a  girl 

of  sixteen  years,  into  a  life  of  vice,  tells  another  tale 
of  going  to  dinner  with  strangers. 

"  They  told  me  they  would  give  me  a  nice 
dinner,"  sobbed  the  white-faced,  big-eyed  girl, 
"  and  that  I  could  have  some  good  things  to  eat, 
but  they  only  gave  me  a  mite  to  eat  and  kept  me 
locked  up  for  three  months,"  she  said. 

She  told  also  of  tortures  which  had  been  in- 
flicted upon  her,  and  when  she  finished  her  testi- 
mony she  fell  fainting,  almost  in  front  of  the  desk 
where  Judge  Himes  sat. 

A  similar  case  which  was  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  courts  was  that  of  Andrew  Dupa- 
quer.  It  was  before  Judge  Torrison,  at  the  Chicago 
Avenue  Court  on  February  17,  1908,  that  this  man 
was  arraigned   on   a  charge    by  the    parents  of 

Johanna    S ,   fourteen    years    old,    and  Josie 

S ,  fifteen  years  old,  for  luring  these  girls  into 

lives  of  shame. 

The  e\adence  was  conclusive  that  Dupaquer  had 
flirted  with  girls  and  invited  them  to  a  restaurant 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  making  them  white  slaves. 
The  defendant  asked  for  time  to  prepare  a  defense 
and  the  case  was  continued  until  the  next  day. 
Dupaquer  in  the  meantime  asked  permission  to  go 
to  the  scene  of  his  offense, 

"  I  want  to  get  some  clothes  in  the  closet,"  he  said. 


[Hovf  White  Slaves  Are  Won  89 

Detective  Eugene  Hezner,  who  accompanied 
him,  watched  his  prisoner  closely  as  he  opened  the 
door  leading  off  the  room  where  the  girls  had  been 
held  prisoners. 

In  a  moment  there  was  a  convulsive  struggle. 
The  man  fell  to  the  floor,  a  stream  of  blood  oozing 
from  his  throat.  Detective  Hezner  rushed  to  the 
man  and  lifted  him  to  a  sitting  posture.  His  head 
was  all  but  severed  from  his  body. 

"  My  picture  will  never  be  in  the  Rogues'  Gal- 
lery," he  gasped  in  defiance  as  he  fell  back  dead. 

Such  was  the  tragic  ending  of  a  slave  trafficker 
who  chose  death  rather  than  a  prison  cell. 

This  same  day  three  young  girls,  who  were 
found  in  a  place  on  West  Randolph  Street,  were 
rescued  from  a  life  which  they  said  was  worse  than 

death.     The  girls  were  Veronica  "W ,  thirteen 

years  old  ;  Rose  M ,  fourteen  years  old ;  and 

Celia  Y ,  sixteen  years  old. 

Two  weeks  before  this,  the  latter  two  girls  had 
disappeared  from  their  homes.  Police  had  searched 
for  them  without  success.  They  had  become  ac- 
quainted with  the  young  men,  who  lured  them,  at 
a  five  cent  theatre  on  Milwaukee  Avenue  and  had 
been  persuaded  to  accompany  the  men  on  a  trip 
down-town  to  get  some  chop  suey  at  a  restaurant. 
Their  journey  ended  at  the  West  Randolph  Street 
house. 

In  a  room  at  the  West  Chicago  Avenue  Police 
Station  the  youngest  girl,  while  weeping,  told  her 
experiences. 


90        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  Oh,  it  was  horrible,"  she  said.  "  I  was  enticed 
into  the  house  by  a  man  named  Lawrence.  I 
thought  I  was  going  into  a  nice  house.  "When  I 
tried  to  leave  they  barred  the  door  and  threatened 
me.  I  met  the  two  other  girls  there  and  they  told 
me  they  also  had  been  fooled  into  the  place.  They 
were  afraid.  Celia  told  me  she  had  been  there  for 
five  days. 

"  We  were  not  allowed  to  get  out.  We  were  al- 
ways accompanied  by  the  woman.  I  had  been 
there  only  two  nights  when  I  hid  in  a  room  in 
which  the  telephone  was  kept.  While  the  others 
were  in  front  I  called  up  friends  of  my  mother's 
and  told  them  where  I  was.  Then  the  police 
came." 

"  A  veritable  clearing  house  in  the  white  slave 
line,"  said  one  of  the  detectives,  who  descended 
upon  the  resort  where  the  girls  were  found. 

It  was  ISTew  Year's  Eve  as  the  year  1908  was 
dawning  when  another  girl,  Elsie  N ,  disap- 
peared from  her  home.  She  had  gone  down-town 
for  the  big  celebration. 

"  Here's  where  you  get  the  horns  and  the  rat- 
tlers," shouted  the  street  fakirs,  amid  the  din  and 
the  tumult  and  the  joyous  shouts  of  those  who  were 
passing  up  and  down  the  princii3al  thoroughfares 
of  the  city.  People,  carried  awa}^  by  the  enthu- 
siasm of  the  occasion,  were  jamming  and  crowding 
their  way  through  the  streets.  The  surging  multi- 
tude was  hilariously  extending  the  happy  new  year 
tidings  at  random.    Girls  and  bovs,  men  and  women 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  91 

were  hoarsely  yelling,  "Happy  New  Year,"  to 
every  passer-by.  The  air  was  filled  with  confetti, 
which  hoodlums  were  throwing  in  the  faces  of 
women  and  stuffing  down  the  necks  and  under  the 
coat  collars  of  the  girls.  As  the  night  wore  on  the 
merriment  became  more  intense,  and  as  the  bells 
and  whistles  welcomed  the  new  year,  the  scream- 
ing and  the  shrieking  became  almost  deafening. 

The  new  year  had  come  and  with  it  drunken 
boys  and  girls  were  reeling  their  way  down  the 
streets,  going  somewhere,  some  place.  The  joyous 
shouts  had  turned  to  curses,  and  the  merry  greet- 
ings into  coarse  and  vulgar  epithets. 

Like  many  other  girls  that  night,  Elsie  N , 

enchanted  by  the  brilliant  lights  of  the  streets,  ex- 
hilarated by  the  enthusiasm  of  the  hour,  was  swept 
along  in  the  great  throng,  and  stopping  now  and 
then  in  some  cafe  to  drink  a  toast  to  the  new  year, 
she  had  become  dazed  and  dizzy  and  almost  before 
she  realized  it  she  had  become  indeed  a  slave. 

So  completely  had  she  vanished  from  the  scenes 
of  her  usual  haunts  that  no  trace  of  her  could  be 
found  by  those  who  had  gone  out  from  her  home 
to  search  for  her. 

It  was  not  until  Annie  Z ,  who  was  employed 

in  the  same  factory  where  Elsie  had  worked,  also 
disappeared  with  strangers  that  Elsie  was  found 
hidden   in    the    meshes    of   the    ^ice    districts,  at 

the  same  place  to  which  Annie  Z had  been 

taken. 

In  tracing  the  methods  to  show  how  white  slaves 


92         Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

are  won  by  panders  it  is  significant  to  note  the 
changes  in  customs  as  cities  grow  larger  and  more 
complex. 

The  cases  just  mentioned  could  be  supplemented 
by  scores  of  others  to  illustrate  the  intricate  prob- 
lems the  girls  of  to-day  have  to  face. 

I  could  tell  of  Lawrence  DeMas  who  on  October 
30,  1909,  was  sentenced  to  nine  months  in  the 
house  of  correction  and  fined  three  hundred  dol- 
lars and  costs  for  luring  Lillian  B to  a  house 

of  ill  repute. 

Further,  I  could  tell  of  Thomas  England,  Jr.,  and 
John  Paul,  who  were  each  sentenced  by  Judge 
Hugh  E.  Stewart,  E"ovember  16,  1909,  to  one  year, 
and  fined  six  hundred  dollars. 

There  were  also  Eichard  Dorsey  and  Andrew 
Sietke,  alias  Andy  Eyan,  who  were  each  found 
guilty  by  Judge  Newcomer,  January  8,  1910,  and 
given  prison  sentences  and  fines. 

These  pandering  cases,  and  many  more,  bring  out 
clearly  that  the  cities  are  indeed  great  melting  pots 
where  foreign  girls  are  cast  in  the  crucible  to  be 
made  Americans,  and  where  the  country  girls  are 
being  transformed  into  city  girls.  Most  of  them 
want  to  imitate  elegantly  dressed  women  whom 
they  see  on  the  streets.  Most  of  them,  too,  crave 
companionship,  gaiety  and  pleasure. 

Unfortunate  indeed  is  it  that  in  seeking  all 
these  things  they  flirt  to  acquire  companions,  and 
they  go  to  restaurants  M^here  there  are  no  scruples 
about  serving  liquor  to  girls  of  any  age. 


How  White  Slaves  Are  Won  93 

With  new  customs  developing  girls  are  constantly 
in  greater  danger. 

Not  so  very  long  since  girls  entertained  their 
young  men  friends  at  home  dinners.  After  the 
theatre  a  light  supper  was  served  in  the  home. 
But  now  the  men  take  the  gu-ls  to  dinner ;  after  the 
theatre  they  adjourn  to  a  restaurant  where  an 
orchestra  is  playing  and  often  singers  and  vaude- 
ville artists  are  entertaining.  Customs  have  changed 
and  it's  a  gay  life  we  find  in  the  new  order  of 
things. 

The  girls  are  not  to  be  blamed  either,  for  many 
of  them  toil  from  early  morning  until  late  at  night. 
Tired  out,  they  go  home  to  a  little  hall  room  and  a 
meagre  meal.  Strange  indeed  would  it  be  if  they 
did  not  seek  something  different.  They  crave 
amusement,  they  must  have  it,  and  we  cannot  deny 
them  that  right. 

The  solution  of  the  problem  is  found  in  the 
public  amusement  halls,  social  settlement  houses, 
public  club  houses,  and  public  amusement  parks 
properly  conducted  and  watched  over.  In  these 
places,  under  proper  supervision,  good,  wholesome 
acquaintances  can  be  made,  the  desire  for  pleasure 
can  be  appeased,  and  good  meals  can  be  had  at  a 
very  reasonable  price. 

The  panders  will  not  dare  to  go  there,  and  the 
methods  by  which  they  win  girls  will  thereby  be 
frustrated. 


vm 

THE  WAY  TO  SLAVERY 

FEOM  the  foregoing  chapters  it  will  be  seen 
that  white  slavery  is  the  procuring,  either 
with  or  without  their  consent,  of  girls  and 
women  for  immoral  houses  and  for  lives  of  shame 
and  detaining  them  against  their  wills  until  they 
become  so  accustomed  and  hardened  to  lives  of 
vice  that  they  do  not  care  to  leave,  become  diseased, 
or  too  ashamed  to  face  decent  people  again. 

The  way  to  this  slavery  is  varied,  but  perhaps 
more  girls,  craving  amusement  and  fun,  have 
travelled  to  their  ruin  over  the  smooth,  glistening 
floors  of  innocent  looking  public  dance  halls,  than 
in  any  other  way.  Not  that  the  dances  in  them- 
selves are  so  bad,  but  the  surroundings  are  bad. 
The  beautiful,  graceful  dance  is  not  in  vogue  there, 
but  the  bawdy  sham,  trying  in  its  limp,  lame 
fashion,  to  mimic  society  and  the  good,  wholesome, 
refreshing  merrymaking  of  a  refined  social  evening. 

The  dance  hall,  with  the  saloon  or  bar  in  con- 
nection or  adjacent,  is  the  curse  of  the  present 
century.  Young  people,  mellowed  by  liquor,  who 
cannot  still  the  inflamed  and  overheated  passion, 
go  from  the  brilliantly  lighted  halls  out  into  the 
darkness  of  the  night. 

In  such  places  the  pander  finds  every  means  of 
94 


The  Way  to  Slavery  95 

misleading  an  unguarded  girl.     Such  a  girl  was 

Annie  W ,   who  was    lured    to   a  house    on 

Armour  Avenue  from  a  dance  by  John  Pitt,  whom 
she  had  met  there. 

On  the  trial,  which  was  conducted  before  Judge 
Fake,  this  nineteen-year-old  girl  said  that  after 
Pitt  inveigled  her  into  a  vice  resort  she  was  not 
allowed  to  leave  the  place.  She  told  that  she  was 
beaten  and  whipped  several  times  for  trying  to 
escape;  however,  she  finally  eluded  her  captors 
after  being  kept  in  servitude  three  months. 

"  In  all  the  time  I  was  a  prisoner,"  she  testified, 
"  I  received  not  more  than  two  or  three  dollars. 
At  one  time  I  was  in  debt  sixty-seven  dollars  and 
at  another  ninety  dollars.  I  know  three  or  four 
girls,  where  it  was  the  same  way.  They  were  put 
there  in  debt  and  the  girls  didn't  know  anything 
about  it.  The  only  explanation  was  that  the  fel- 
lows who  put  us  there  had  borrowed  money  in  our 
names." 

In  deciding  this  case  Judge  Fake  said : 

"  Pitt,  I  am  going  to  give  you  a  lesson  which  I 
hope  you  will  remember  a  long  time.  I  cannot  say 
that  you  are  any  better  or  any  worse  than  any 
other  men  who  are  engaged  in  this  same  debasing 
business,  but  there  are  not  extenuating  circum- 
stances for  any  of  you." 

He  was  found  guilty  upon  two  charges  and  fined 
four  hundi'ed  dollars. 

How  many  young  folk,  innocent  enough  that 
night,   like  Annie  W ,   were    floating    easily 


96        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

down  the  bubbling,  laughing  stream,  perhaps  to  be 
engulfed  soon  in  the  waves  of  sin,  shame  and  dis- 
honour? If  those  jingling  old  public  dance  hall 
tunes  could  speak,  they  would  give  the  answer ; 
they  would  tell  how  many  sweet  lives  they  have 
charmed  into  misery  and  trouble. 

In    the    autumn    months  another  girl,   Myrtle 

B ,  became  acquainted  with  a  young  man  in 

Chicago  in  a  dance  hall.  He  told  her  of  the 
beautiful  clothes  and  jewels  she  could  have  if  she 
would  go  away  with  him.  She  ran  away  from  the 
city  with  this  young  man  and  for  months  nothing 
was  heard  of  her.  Her  heart-broken  mother  adver- 
tised in  newspapers,  pleading  with  her  to  return. 
Circulars  were  sent  broadcast  in  the  United  States 
to  police  officials  in  the  hope  that  Myrtle  might  be 
found.  After  a  search  of  eight  months  it  was  as- 
certained that  the  young  daughter  was  in  a  resort 

in  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  and  Mrs.  B ,  accompanied 

by  a  Chicago  attorney,  went  there  and  rescued  her 
daughter. 

Upon  going  into  the  house  the  mother,  white 
with  rage,  sprang  upon  Cora  ,  the  proprie- 
tress of  the  resort,  but  was  caught  and  held  back 
by  the  attorney.  Then  the  mother,  who  had  been 
brave  throughout  all  the  months  of  her  search,  ex- 
hausted and  worn  out,  broke  down  and  had  to  be 
assisted  to  a  hotel. 

The  mother's  attorney  said  after  returning  to 
Chicago  that  the  girl  had  been  found  after  she  had 
written  a  letter  home  and  in  some  way  managed  to 


The  Way  to  Slavery  97 

get  it  mailed.  In  this  letter  she  stated  that  she 
was  being  held  as  a  prisoner  in  the  resort,  that  her 
clothing  was  locked  up  and  that  she  was  not  al- 
lowed to  leave  the  place  without  a  guard.  Pro- 
ceedings, both  civil  and  criminal,  were  begun 
against  the  resort  keeper,  but  it  was  too  late  to  catch 
the  pander  who  had  taken  her  there. 

Like  the  dance  hall,  the  summer  excursion  boat 
attracts  many  young  people,  and  there,  too,  min- 
gling in  the  crowd,  is  the  pander. 

The  most  astounding  disclosure  regarding  this 
way  to  slavery  came  with  the  arrest  of  Leona 
Garrity  and  Bessie  Lee.  It  reveals  the  story  of  a 
woman,  "  Dr.  Jekyl  and  Mr.  Hyde." 

A  girl  of  sixteen,  by  the  name  of  Belle  W , 

was  enjoying  a  trip  on  an  excursion  boat  one  day, 
when  Bessie  Lee,  who  was  sitting  by  her,  engaged 
the  girl  in  conversation.  Soon  the  acquaintance 
ripened  into  friendship  and  Bessie  Lee,  the  wily 
procuress,  told  Belle  that  she  would  take  her  to 
see  her  beautiful  home,  but  when  the  girl  arrived 
in  the  home,  she  found  herself  a  captive  in  a  clear- 
ing house  of  vice,  conducted  by  Leona  Garrity. 

Belle  W was  found  after  a  long  search.     It 

was  then  learned  that  Leona  Garrity,  of  the  red 
light  district,  was  none  other  than  Mrs.  Lemuel 
Schlotter,  of  Glencoe,  a  fashionable  suburb  of  Chi- 
cago, where  she  lived  in  luxury. 

This  woman  presented  a  pitiable  and  almost 
pathetic  appearance  in  the  criminal  court  one 
morning,   not    long  after  Belle  W was  dis- 


98        Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

covered  in  the  vice  resort.  Hers  was  not  a  vicious 
face.  Her  eyes  were  large  and  they  looked  at  one 
openly  and  almost  frankly.  In  a  public  place  she 
would  be  taken  for  a  quiet  matron,  with  love  for 
her  neighbours  and  scorn  for  acts  that  were  im- 
moral. She  was  dressed  in  a  tailor-made  suit  of 
blue;  her  hat  was  modestly  trimmed.  No  one 
would  take  her  for  an  outcast  who  buys  and  sells 
girls.  Bessie  Lee,  who  sat  beside  her,  looked  the 
part  of  a  procuress.  She  was  thin  lipped,  cold 
featured,  with  a  complexion  the  colour  of  a  faded 
straw  hat,  and  eyes  that  were  black  enough  to  spot 
the  wings  of  a  crow.  She  flashed  them  too  as  she 
ahnost  couched  in  the  big  armchair  given  her  by 
the  bailiff.  In  her  countenance  was  written  the 
story  of  days  spent  in  sorrow  and  nights  in  utter 
shame. 

During  the  trial  a  circumstance  occurred  which 
shows  the  extreme  measures  that  those  engaged  in 
the  white  slave  traffic  will  adopt  to  prevent 
their  fellow  members  in  this  intricate  system  of 
crime  from  being  caught  in  the  toils  of  the  law. 
At  noon,  during  the  first  day  of  the  trial.  Belle 

W went  to  one  of  the  State  Street  stores  and, 

becoming  separated  from  her  companion  in  the 
great  throng  which  crowds  the  stores  at  noontime, 
she  was  caught  by  the  arm  and  addressed  by  a 
young  man  who  said  he  was  from  the  State's  At- 
torney's office,  and  that  she  was  wanted  over  there 
at  once.  Knomng  that  the  State's  Attorney  was 
prosecuting  her  captors,  she  went  with  him. 


The  Way  to  Slavery  99 

Using  her  own  language : 

"  He  took  me  by  the  arm  and  tried  to  force  me 
to  go  with  him.  Once  on  the  street  he  attempted 
to  shove  me  into  a  saloon  just  as  we  were  passing 
it,  saying  that  I  looked  weary  and  needed  a  drink 
of  whiskey.  I  knew  then  that  he  was  not  from  the 
State's  Attorney's  office,  and  broke  away  from  him. 
I  went  back  to  the  store  and  tried  to  find  the  lady 
I  was  with,  and  when  I  could  not  find  her  I  walked 
to  Forty-first  Street,  not  having  car  fare.  I  went 
to  the  home  of  a  friend  and  borrowed  money  to 
get  home  with." 

When  the  police  heard  that  she  was  missing,  a 
"  hurry  up  call "  was  sent  to  all  the  police  districts, 
and  late  in  the  evening  she  was  found  at  her  home 
in  the  arms  of  her  mother. 

This  case,  like  most  of  the  white  slave  cases 
that  we  have  had,  was  bitterly  fought  with  able 
and  experienced  lawyers  representing  the  defendant. 
Like  many  of  the  other  cases  too,  it  brought  forth 
the  story  of  gaining  a  girl's  confidence  by  deceit, 
luring  her  to  a  disreputable  house  by  false  pretenses, 
and  keeping  her  there  by  force.  In  brief,  this  is  the 
story  of  the  trial. 

The  girl  had  made  her  accusations  and  told  of  her 
sad  experiences  while  in  captivity,  and  the  defend- 
ants had  made  their  denial  and  told  the  usual  story 
that  the  girl  had  come  there  of  her  own  free  will, 
and  the  jury,  after  listening  to  the  testimony, 
scrutinizing  the  faces  and  observing  the  demeanour 
of  the  witnesses,  went  to  the  jury  room  and  re* 


100      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

turned  later  with  a  verdict,  finding  Leona  Garrity, 
alias  Mrs.  Lemuel  Schlotter,  and  Bessie  Lee,  guilty 
of  harbouring  a  girl  under  age  in  a  disreputable 
house.  The  verdict  carried  with  it  from  one  to  five 
years  imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary. 

While  the  experiences  of  Belle  W illustrate 

that  panders  procure  girls  from  excursion  boats,  the 
story  told  in  the  summer  of  1909  by  two  sixteen- 
year-old  girls  shows  another  way  to  slavery. 

On  the  fourth  day  of  July,  when  the  people  were 
celebrating  the  birth  of  independence  and  liberty  in 
our  country,  May,  one  of  the  girls,  was  visiting 
Forest  Park,  one  of  Chicago's  amusement  places. 
During  the  evening  she  met  Jacob  Jacobson,  a 
young  man  who  later  asked  to  escort  her  home. 
As  he  left  her  that  night,  she  invited  him  to  call 
again.  He  did  so  two  or  three  days  later,  bringing 
with  him  another  young  man,  Louis  Brodsky.  The 
boys  suggested  that  May  get  another  girl  and  they 
would  all  take  a  walk  in  Garfield  Park.  May 
called  on  Adele,  a  girl  of  her  own  age  in  the 
neighbourhood,  and  the  four  spent  the  evening  in 
the  park. 

The  boys,  who  were  panders  and  adept  at  the 
business,  soon  succeeded  in  making  the  girls  believe 
that  they  were  in  love  with  them.  The  girls  were 
charmed  at  the  thought  of  love  at  first  sight,  and 
were  fairly  dazzled  by  the  pictures  the  boys  painted 
to  them  of  their  homes  in  New  York  City  where 
they  said  their  parents  lived.  Before  the  evening 
was  over  they  had  all  planned  to  elope  together, 


The  Way  to  Slavery  loi 

the  boys  promising  to  marry  the  girls  and  take 
them  to  New  York,  where  they  said  the  girls  could 
live  in  fine  homes  and  wear  elegant  clothes. 

The  next  morning  they  met,  as  was  agreed,  but 
instead  of  going  to  the  marriage  license  oifice,  the 
boys  took  the  girls  for  a  trip  to  Dunning,  one  of 
the  suburbs  about  twelve  miles  from  the  centre  of 
the  city,  where  the  County  Insane  Institution  and 
Poor  Houses  are  located. 

The  gates  to  this  place  being  closed  to  visitors 
that  day,  they  roamed  around  until  the  latter  part 
of  the  afternoon,  when  they  went  to  the  oiRces  of 
the  company  where  one  of  the  girls  had  been 
employed  and  she  drew  out  the  wages  that  were 
due  her  and  turned  the  money  over  to  the  boys. 
They  then  went  to  a  down-town  restaurant,  and 
while  there  Brodsky  excused  himself,  leaving  Jacob- 
son  to  guard  the  girls.  Going  to  a  drug  store  he 
called  up  Abe  Weinstein  in  South  Chicago  on  the 
telephone,  and  told  him  that  they  had  the  two  girls 
which  he  had  told  him  about  over  the  telephone  the 
night  before. 

"They  are  good  lookers,"  said  Brodsky,  "and 
we'll  soon  be  out  with  them  ;  meet  us  at  the  depot." 

Weinstein  replied,  "  Bring  them  out  right  away 
and  don't  let  them  get  away  from  you." 

The  boys  then  took  the  girls  to  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral Station  at  Randolph  Street  and  went  out  on  the 
train  to  South  Chicago.  On  the  way  out  the  boys 
told  the  girls  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  New 
York  City,  but  were  going  to  stop  off  at  South 


102      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Chicago  and  meet  some  friends  and  bid  them  good* 
bye. 

According  to  the  arrangement  made  over  the  tele- 
phone, Abe  Weinstein  and  Jennie  Sandusky  were  at 
the  station  to  meet  them,  and  the  girls  were  told  to 
go  with  the  Sandusky  woman  and  the  boys  would 
be  around  a  little  later.  This  they  did,  and  before 
they  knew  it  they  found  themselves  captives  in  an  im- 
moral house  on  The  Strand.  Two  days  later,  how- 
ever, the  girls  were  found,  rescued  and  restored  to 
their  parents  and  the  slave  traders  and  their  agents 
were  arrested. 

The  last  week  in  July,  Jacob  Jacobson  was  tried 
in  the  criminal  com't  building  and  found  guilty. 

The  following  week,  on  August  fourth,  Abe  "Wein- 
stein was  tried  in  Judge  Walker's  court.  After 
other  witnesses  had  testified,  Louis  Brodsky,  who 
had  previously  made  a  confession,  w^as  called  on  be- 
half of  the  people  and  testified  as  follows  : 

"My  name  is    Louis  Brodsky,  and  I  live  at 

No.  York  Street;  I  have  been  in  jail  over 

two  weeks ;  about  two  months  ago  I  first  met 
"Weinstein  at  Yan  Buren  and  State  Streets,  he  being 
introduced  to  me  by  a  fellow  that  I  knew.  Jacob- 
son  was  with  me  at  the  time  and  we  went  with 
"Weinstein  that  same  day  by  the  Illinois  Central  to 
South  Chicago ;  Weinstein  paid  our  fares  and  took 

us   to   No. The   Strand,   where    we    stayed 

three  or  four  hours  and  had  supper  with  Weinstein. 
It  was  at  that  time  that  he  asked  us  boys  if  we 
wouldn!t  like  to  make  some  money  by  getting  girls 


The  Way  to  Slavery  103 

for  him,  and  he  mentioned  the  fact  that  there  was 
no  particular  danger.  In  fact  Weinstein  said  to  us 
that  if  we  could  get  him  some  girls  that  there 
would  be  no  chance  of  us  getting  into  any  trouble, 
and  that  we  would  never  regret  it,  because  he  said, 
*  I  have  got  more  influence  around  here  than  any 
one  else.  I  am  known  all  around  on  the  West  Side, 
the  South  Side  and  everywhere  else.' 

"  After  that  he  told  us  we  could  walk  around  the 
amusement  resorts  and  parks  and  get  acquainted 
with  girls.  He  said  if  I  got  anybody  to  bring  out 
there  everything  would  be  all  safe,  and  he  was  well 
protected,  and  to  go  ahead  and  call  him  up  by 
'phone  if  I  heard  anything;  he  wanted  girls  and 
told  us  he  was  very  short  of  gMs  and  that  he  did 
not  have  enough  at  that  time. 

"After  this  conversation  Jacobson  left  with  me 
and  we  went  back  to  the  city.  The  next  day  I 
spoke  with  Weinstein  over  the  'phone,  and  he  says 
if  you  get  any  one,  either  bring  the  parties  out 
to  me  and  'phone  from  the  depot,  or  let  Jacobson 
bring  them  out  and  he  would  see  that  somebody 
was  there  to  meet  them. 

"Yes,  I  know  Dolly  (Adele)  and  May 

.    I  first  saw  them  about  three  weeks  ago. 

Jacob  Jacobson  was  with  me  and  we  took  a  walk 
around  the  park  and  talked  to  the  girls.  After  we 
took  the  girls  home  I  called  up  Weinstein  over  the 
telephone  and  told  him  about  the  girls.  He  said  it 
was  all  well  and  fine  and  to  'phone  him  again  the 
next  day  and  he  would  tell  me  exactly  how  to  get 


104      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

out  there  with  them.  The  next  day  we  met  the 
girls,  and  towards  evening  I  telephoned  to  Wein- 
stein  and  told  him  we  were  on  our  way  with  the 
girls,  and  he  says, '  I  expected  you  a  couple  of  hours 
earlier,  but  it  is  all  right,  bring  them  right  out.  I, 
or  somebody  else,  will  be  at  the  depot  waiting  for 
you.'  We  took  the  girls  out  there  on  the  train  and 
when  we  got  to  the  depot  in  South  Chicago  we  sat 
around  about  five  minutes,  when  Weinstein  and 
Mrs.  Sandusky  came  in  and  talked  to  the  girls  three 
or  four  minutes  and  then  we  departed.  "We  did  not 
go  with  the  girls  from  the  station  ;  Weinstein  told  us 
to  come  back  later.  About  an  hour  or  so  after  that 
we  went  to  Weinstein's  place  on  The  Strand  and 
saw  the  girls  at  his  place.  After  we  had  a  couple 
of  drinks,  he  said,  '  Don't  worry  about  anything  for 
everything  will  be  all  right,  at  least  I  hope  it  will, 
as  I  never  had  no  trouble  before  and  there  will  be 
no  trouble  now.' 

"  When  I  met  Weinstein  first  I  was  looking  for  a 
position,  but  after  that  I  did  no  work. 

"  Nothing  has  been  said  to  me  about  my  going 
free  for  my  testimony.  I  know  I  am  guilty,  partly. 
My  lawyer  told  me  to  make  a  clean  breast  and  tell 
the  truth  about  the  whole  story  ;  he  told  me  I  am 
bound  to  get  a  sentence ,  but  I  haven't  the  least  idea 
what  the  punishment  is.  On  his  advice  I  have 
taken  the  witness  stand." 

Following  Brodsky  the  next  witness  called  to  the 
stand  was  Adele. 

"  I  am  sixteen  years  old,"  she  said.    "  May,  Brod- 


The  Way  to  Slavery  105 

sky,  Jacobson  and  myself  went  on  the  Illinois  Cen- 
tral train  and  the  boys  took  us  off  the  train  at  South 
Chicago.  About  five  minutes  after  we  got  off  the 
car  I  saw  "Weinstein  for  the  first  time  at  the  station, 
and  Louis  Brodsky  introduced  him.     May  and  I 

went  to  No.  The  Strand  with  Miss  Jennie. 

I  don't  know  where  Weinstein  went.  However,  1 
saw  him  later  the  same  day  at  this  place  on  The 
Strand.  "Weinstein  asked  me  where  I  was  from  and 
what  my  name  was.  He  bought  me  some  under- 
wear, some  face  powder,  some  soap  and  other  things. 
They  kept  me  there  until  the  police  came  and  took 
me  away. 

"  Louis  Brodsky  was  the  first  one  to  speak  to  me 
about  leaving  my  home  and  told  me  that  he  would 
take  me  to  New  York  and  I  would  have  fine 
clothes.  When  they  took  May  some  place  else  she 
and  Brodsky  got  arrested,  and  she  told  them  where 
I  was,  and  then  the  police  came  and  got  me  out." 

May  was  the  next  witness.  She  told  about  meet- 
ing Jacob  Jacobson  at  Forest  Park  and  about  his 
coming  out  to  her  home  several  days  later  when 
Brodsky  was  with  him,  and  about  the  walk  in  the 
park,  and  about  the  promises  that  Avere  then  made. 

She  said  that  they  had  kept  her  at  this  house  on 
The  Strand  only  one  day  and  then  had  taken  her 
down-to"\vn  to  another  house. 

"Weinstein  wanted  to  take  me  down-town  to 
some  house,"  she  said,  "  and  I  would  not  go.  I  told 
him  I  wanted  to  go  home,  but  they  took  me  just 
the  same." 


lo6      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Abe  "Weinstein  was  found  guilty  and  Louis 
Brodsky  entered  a  plea  of  guilty. 

It  may  seem  strange  that  girls  can  be  led  astray 
so  easily  ;  that  they  will  fall  in  love  at  first  sight 
and  go  so  unhesitatingly  and  confidingly  with 
almost  utter  strangers,  but  truth  is  stranger  than 
fiction.  And  while  we  may  not  sympathize  alto- 
gether with  these  girls,  believing  that  they  were 
perhaps  partly  responsible  for  their  own  down- 
fall, we  cannot  help  but  realize  the  terrible 
traffic  which  the  stories  of  these  cases  reveal. 
They  reveal  the  systematic  intrigues  of  the  pro- 
curers to  make  good  ghls  bad  and  bad  girls 
worse. 

It  seems  that  this  system  is  about  as  vicious  and 
dangerous  to  society,  when  men  and  women  plot 
and  plan  to  make  bad  girls  or  wayward  girls  more 
degraded,  as  it  is  to  procure  innocent  girls  for  lives 
of  shame. 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  in  many  cases  the 
girls  have  a  restless  desire  to  pull  aside  the  curtain 
and  peep  into  the  labjainths  of  sin  before  they  are 
led  into  them  by  the  panders.  It  is  equaUj^  true, 
however,  that  many  good  and  innocent  girls  seek- 
ing legitimate  amusement  and  fun  become  victims 
of  procurers. 

It  has  been  interesting  to  watch  girls  who  have 
been  procured  and  rescued  and  to  learn  that  they 
lead  honest  and  wholesome  lives.  This  is  evidenced 
by  this  note  which  I  received  last  Christmas,  ac- 
companving  a  holiday  gift : 


The  Way  to  Slavery  107 

"  Mr.  Eoe  : 

"  Only  this  token  can  express  my  gratitude, 
a  letter  never  would,  as  words  are  expressionless. 
I  am  working  and  doing  only  as  I  should.  There- 
fore feel  as  though  I  am  worthy  of  only  kindly 
thoughts,  and  entertain  only  such  for  you. 
"  Sincerely, 

"  Adele." 

This  and  many  other  tokens  and  letters  of  grati- 
tude which  have  been  received  by  me  show  that 
the  work  which  has  been  done  for  more  than  three 
years  in  rescuing  the  helpless  is  indeed  appreciated. 


IX 
SUPPLYING  THE  DEMAND 

ALL  inmates  of  disorderly  houses  are  not 
slaves  and  all  of  them  are  not  procured  by 
panders.  The  question  is  naturally  asked, 
How  many  voluntarily  go  into  such  houses  ?  The 
answer  to  this  question  gives  the  very  reason  why 
a  traffic  in  girls  exists.  The  proportion  of  those 
who  lead  lives  of  shame  voluntarily,  differs  in 
various  communities,  but  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in 
no  American  city  are  all  the  inmates  in  houses  of 
vice  there  of  their  own  volition.  Figures  and  esti- 
mates regarding  this  phase  of  the  vice  question  are 
as  a  rule  illusive  and  conjectural. 

The  supply  for  immoral  houses,  of  guis  who 
enter  such  places  of  their  own  free  will,  by  no 
means  equals  the  demand.  But  for  this  difference 
pandering,  procuring  white  slaves,  would  never 
have  existed. 

The  fact  that  the  average  life  of  fallen  women  is 
exceedingly  short  is  a  great  element  in  the  demand 
for  girls.  It  is  not  the  purpose  here,  hoAvever,  to 
detail  the  horrors  and  the  dread  diseases  which 
make  their  lives  short.  They  go  as  they  come, 
secretly  and  without  notice.  Very  seldom  the 
public  hears  of  the  deaths  of  women  of  the  under- 
108 


Supplying  the  Demand  109 

world,  but  they  are  dying  by  the  scores  in  the 
hospitals  and  county  wards  every  day. 

The  places  of  those  who  are  gone  must  be  filled. 
New  girls  are  wanted  ;  and  the  resort  owners  send 
out  theu"  procurers  to  exploit  and  recruit  girls  to 
meet  the  demand. 

The  demand  is  steadily  increasing,  and  the  cause 
is  economic  as  well  as  social.  The  deferring  of 
marriage,  brought  about  by  the  increased  cost  of 
living  and  low  salaries  paid,  has  made  the  demand 
much  greater.  These  economic  and  social  causes 
operate  as  well  to  aid  the  panders  in  obtaining  the 
new  supply.  The  desu-e  for  finer  clothes  and  better 
living,  and  the  great  increase  in  the  number  of  girls 
earning  a  livelihood  make  many  girls  easy  prey  for 
the  panders.  Girls  are  recruited  for  this  supply 
from  factories,  stores,  offices,  and  even  from  homes, 
because  they  crave  higher  social  position,  which  they 
think  money  will  give  them. 

A  case  which  illustrates  how  a  mother  sacrificed 
her  daughter  upon  the  altar  of  gold  developed  in 
the  court  room  the  day  following  the  Christmas 
of  1908. 

A  young  man  was  arrested  for  making  an  attack 
upon  an  old  man  and  was  charged  with  an  assault 
with  a  deadly  weapon;  I  walked  into  the  court 
room  on  the  twenty-sixth  day  of  December  to 
prosecute  him  upon  this  charge.  I  asked  him  why 
he  had  gone  out  to  the  home  of  this  elderly  man 
and  made  an  assault  with  a  revolver.     He  said  : 

"  I  went  out  there  to  get  my  girl." 


110      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

I  then  asked  him  what  his  girl's  name  was  and 
then  he  became  confused  and  mumbled  some  words 
that  no  one  could  understand. 

Seeing  at  a  glance  that  there  was  something 
wrong  in  this  case,  I  sent  for  the  girl  and  this 
story  developed. 

In  the  summer  of  1907,  a  graphophone  agent 
went  to  the  home  of  Ely  S ,  who  was  em- 
ployed by  the  Pere  Marquette  Railroad  and  lived 
in  a  humble  house  in  Benton  Harbor,  Michigan. 
The  agent  saw  there  the  pretty  little  blond 
daughter,  only  sixteen  years  old,  whose  name  was 
Maggie. 

The  next  day  this  gi^aphophone  agent  went  back 
to  the  house  and  this  time  he  brought  with  him  a 

young  man,  whom  he  introduced  to  Ely  S 's 

daughter  as  Frank  Kelly.  These  two  men  told 
Maggie  and  her  mother  that  they  could  secure  a  fine 
position  for  Maggie  in  Chicago.  They  said  it  was 
foolish  for  her  to  stay  there  in  Benton  Harbor 
when  she  could  make  so  much  more  money  in  a 
larger  city.  The  mother,  thinking  that  it  would 
perhaps  be  better  for  Maggie  to  have  a  better  home 
and  that  their  social  position  would  be  raised  and 
that  they  could  live  better  if  Maggie  went  away 
and  sent  money  home  to  them,  gave  her  consent 
and  bade  her  daughter  Godspeed  and  allowed 
Maggie  to  be  brought  to  Chicago  by  Frank  Kelly. 
The  girl  came  presumably  to  get  work,  but  when 
she  got  here  instead  of  getting  work  she  was  placed 
in  an  Italian  resort  of  the  lowest  character  on 


Supplying  the  Demand  in 

South  Clark  Street,  not  far  from  the  Harrison 
Street  Police  Station. 

She  then  discovered  to  her  amazement  that  Frank 
Kelly's  real  name  was  Alphonse  Citro  and  that  he 
was  an  Italian  who  had  been  in  America  only  a 
few  years.  She  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a 
pander  who  placed  her  in  this  house  where  the 
usual  entrance  was  through  a  back  alley.  The 
place  was  frequented  only  by  Italians,  most  of 
them  labourers.  She  found  herself  surrounded  by 
twelve  or  fourteen  scra-v\Tiy,  half-clad,  miserable 
girls,  part  of  them  Italians  and  part  Americans. 
Here  Maggie  was  kept  until  the  following  summer, 
the  summer  of  1908.  Citro,  the  pander,  had  sold 
her  there  and  he  came  often  to  collect  money  from 
the  proprietor  of  the  place,  which  was  charged 
against  her  under  the  old  debt  system,  so  long  in 
vogue,  and  also  to  see  that  she  did  not  get  away. 

The  girl's  father  in  some  way  obtained  informa- 
tion that  she  was  in  this  resort.  Citro  learned  that 
the  father  had  come  to  Chicago  in  search  of  his 
daughter.  He  took  the  girl  out  of  the  resort,  and 
in  order  to  circumvent  the  law  then  existing  in 
Illinois,  which  protected  only  unmarried  females, 
he  married  her  legally,  under  the  name  of  Frank 
Kelly,  and  took  her  to  Gary,  Indiana.  When  the 
gui's  father  reached  the  Chicago  resort,  he  was 
told  that  his  daughter  had  just  left.  After  hunt- 
ing her  for  several  days,  he  went  home  heart- 
broken, giving  up  the  hunt.  Citro  kept  the  girl  in 
Gary   two   months   and   then  brought  her  back 


112       Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

and  put  her  into  the  same  Italian  house  of  ill 
repute. 

Here  she  was  kept  until  the  following  winter 
when  she  finally  escaped  from  the  house  on  the 
twenty-first  of  December,  ran  to  a  near-by  barber 
shop  and  asked  for  protection.  One  of  the  barbers 
took  pity  upon  her ;  invited  her  out  to  his  own 
home  and  put  her  under  the  care  of  his  mother  and 
father,  until  a  way  could  be  found  to  send  her  to 
her  own  home  safely.  Citro,  learning  that  she  had 
gone  to  this  barber  shop  and  ascertaining  that  one 
of  the  barbers  had  taken  her  to  his  home,  went  out 
there  after  her.  He  went  to  the  door  and  knocked 
and,  when  the  father  of  the  barber  opened  the 
door,  Citro  demanded  that  the  girl  be  turned  over 
to  him,  saying  in  the  words  of  the  testimony,  "  I 
am  losing  money  every  day  that  she  is  gone."  The 
old  father  refused  to  give  her  up  and  then  Citro 
drew  a  revolver  and  tried  to  intimidate  and  brow- 
beat him.  A  daughter  in  the  house  called  for  help 
and  soon  several  people  gathered  around  and  a 
scufile  ensued.  Citro  got  the  worst  of  it,  and,  be- 
coming frightened,  ran  down  the  street  and  threw 
his  revolver  away  as  he  ran.  He  was  caught  by  a 
negro  who  held  him  until  officer  John  C.  Kaliher 
arrived  on  the  scene  and  arrested  him  ;  thus  on  the 
day  following  Christmas  he  was  brought  before 
Judge  Going  for  trial. 

After  I  had  heard  this  story  from  the  lips  of  the 
girl  who  had  been  kept  as  a  slave  for  a  year  and  a 
half,  I  changed  the  charge  against  Citro  to  pander- 


Supplying  the  Demand  113 

mg.  This  was  on  Saturday  and  the  following  week 
he  was  tried  upon  that  charge  before  a  jury  in 
Judge  Going's  court. 

"When  a  jury  was  secured,  Maggie  S told  of 

her  procurement,  captivity  and  escape.  Among 
the  other  witnesses  who  testified  was  Sam  DeJohn, 
the  barber  who  protected  her  after  her  escape. 

Alphonse  Citro  was  found  guilty  January  6, 1909, 
but,  because  the  evidence  was  not  considered  suffi- 
ciently strong,  he  was  granted  a  new  trial.  The 
following  week  he  was  tried  again  by  another  jury. 
At  this  trial  several  more  witnesses  were  brought 
in  to  tell  what  they  knew  about  the  case. 

One  was  Minnie  Fox  who  said  she  managed  a 
hotel  on  South  State  Street  where  Citro  lived.  She 
told  that  he  loitered  around  the  hotel  oftentimes 
all  day,  and  did  not  seem  to  be  doing  any  work. 

Another  witness  was  Kobert  Leonard,  a  porter 
Avho  worked  in  the  house  into  which  Maggie  was 
sold.  He  told  the  character  of  the  place,  and  also 
testified  that  he  had  seen  Citro  around  there  very 
often.  "  There  were  a  lot  of  other  panders  hang- 
ing around  there,"  he  said,  "  and  Citro  knew  them 
all  weU." 

After  Leonard  had  concluded  his  testimony  Mag- 
gie's mother  and  father  went  on  the  witness  stand. 

When  all  the  witnesses  had  finished  giving  their 
testimony  and  I  was  addressing  the  jury,  I  saw  one 
of  the  saddest  sights  I  have  ever  beheld  in  the 
court  room.  I  heard  some  one  moaning  and  I 
turned  from  the  jury  and  looked  over  to  where  the 


114      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

mother  and  father  were  sitting.    There  sat  Ely 

S with  his  arm  around  the  old  mother,  both 

of  them  weeping.  The  mother  was  clutching  a 
little  shawl  that  was  folded  across  her  breast,  and 
sobbing  as  though  her  heart  would  break.  Per- 
haps she  was  thinking  of  the  day  that  she  had  al- 
lowed Maggie  to  leave  home  with  a  stranger  in 
order  that  she  might  have  more  money.  That 
mother  had  certainly  sacrificed  her  daughter  upon 
an  altar  of  gold. 

Citro  was  again  found  guilty  and  sentenced  un- 
der the  pandering  law. 

Battista  Pizzi,  the  owner  of  the  resort  for  which 
Maggie  was  procured,  was  indicted  by  the  grand 
jury  for  harbouring  a  girl  under  the  age  of  eighteen 
in  an  immoral  house,  but  before  he  was  arrested  it 
was  reported  that  he  had  fled  to  Italy.  It  was 
learned  afterwards,  however,  that  he  had  gone  only 
to  New  York  where  he  stayed  for  a  while  until  he 
thought  that  the  matter  had  blown  over.  He  came 
back,  was  arrested  and  finally  convicted  by  a  jury 
in  Judge  Edwin  K.  "Walker's  court. 

Only  recently  three  more  procurers  giving  the 
names  of  Frank  Komano,  Antonio  Colafore  and 
Clara  Klein  were  convicted  in  Judge  Fake's  court, 
and  were  given  the  maximum  sentence  under  the 
amended  pandering  law  of  one  year  in  the  house 
of  correction  and  a  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars 
and  costs  each,  for  selling  a  little  girl  by  the  name 

of    Ethel  A into    the    same    resort.      Since 

then  this  place  has  been  closed  by  the  police. 


Supplying  the  Demand  115 

A  woman  by  the  name  of  Alice  Alva  was  tried 
in  Judge  Fake's  court  for  attempting  to  procure  a 
young  girl,  a  clerk  in  one  of  the  large  department 
stores.  The  woman,  who  was  fine  looking  and  well 
dressed,  discovered  that  the  girl  was  interested  in 
music ;  and  pretending  to  be  attracted  by  her  beauty, 
she  told  the  girl  that  if  she  would  come  "  home  " 
with  her,  she  would  have  an  opportunity  to  hear 
and  learn  music.  The  woman  promised  her  good 
company  and  fine  clothes  while  the  girl  was  acquir- 
ing a  musical  education,  which  she  promised  to  give 
her,  and  the  girl  was  finally  induced  to  go  with  the 
woman. 

The  girl  obtained  permission  to  go  home,  and  as 
she  was  leaving  the  store  in  company  with  this 
woman,  the  attention  of  one  of  the  house  detectives 
was  attracted  to  the  elegantly  dressed  woman,  lead- 
ing towards  the  entrance  a  young,  poorly  clad  girl 
whom  he  recognized  as  an  employee.  He  stopped 
them  and  engaged  them  in  conversation,  and  upon 
learning  the  unusual  story  of  a  fairy  godmother  and 
a  poor  Cinderella,  his  suspicions  were  aroused. 

Questioning  the  girl,  he  discovered  that  she  knew 
nothing  whatsoever  of  the  woman  and  the  woman 
finally  admitted  that  she  had  deceived  the  girl  in 
promising  to  give  her  a  musical  education.  There- 
upon the  detective  arrested  the  woman,  Alice  Alva, 
and  later  investigation  showed  that  she  was  the 
agent  of  a  vicious  resort  o^vner. 

Another  case  which  happened  about  the  same  time 
was  that  against  George  Simouese,  a  Greek  candy 


Ii6      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

maker,  who  was  caught  after  attempting  to  sell 

Daisy  H to  a  resort  keeper  on  The  Strand  in 

South  Chicago. 

The  girl  testified  that  she  was  formerly  an  in- 
mate of  a  resort  at  Princeton,  Illinois,  but  had  left 
that  place  and  had  come  to  Chicago  to  earn  an 
honest  living.  She  was  employed  by  Simouese  to 
take  charge  of  his  candy  store  and  had  been  work- 
ing there  about  a  week,  when,  she  said,  the  Greek 
told  her  he  knew  a  place  where  she  could  make 
more  money  than  she  was  earning  while  working 
for  him.  He  mduced  her  to  accompany  hun  and 
the  moment  she  entered  the  place  she  recognized 
that  it  was  an  immoral  resort.  While  the  Greek 
was  bargaining  with  the  resort  owner  for  her  sale 
she  ran  out  and  went  up  the  street  until  she  found 
an  officer,  and  the  officer  went  back  and  caught  the 
Greek. 

Judge  Petit,  in  passing  sentence  upon  the  man, 
said  that  it  made  no  difference  whether  the  girl 
had  been  a  former  inmate  of  a  house  or  not,  as 
long  as  she  wanted  to  reform  and  was  willing  to  work 
for  a  living.  The  man  was  found  guilty  under  the 
disorderly  conduct  act,  which  was  the  only  charge 
which  could  be  placed  against  him  in  those  days,  as 
she  was  not  of  previous  chaste  life  and  conversation. 

"  My  only  regret,"  said  the  judge,  "  is  that  the 
maximum  fine  is  too  small  in  cases  which  deal  with 
such  snakes  as  you.  I  fine  you  two  hundred  dollars 
and  costs." 

The  story  of  another  girl  who  sought  to  better 


Supplying  the  Demand  117 

her  position  in  life  was  that  of  Marie  M .     She 

was  marked  for  sale  and  lured  by  subterfuge  to  a 
resort  on  Wabash  Avenue  by  alleged  procurers. 
She  was  only  a  little  girl,  fifteen  years  old,  who  had 
been  in  America  but  a  short  tune  and  could  not 
speak  English.  Marie  worked  in  a  factory  on  the 
west  side  of  Chicago  and  was  going  home  from  work 
one  day  when  she  was  approached  by  a  woman  who 
spoke  her  mother  tongue  and  promised  her  better 
employment. 

"  You  work  so  hard,  my  dear,  and  get  only  a 
small  amount  each  week,"  said  the  stranger. 
"  Come  with  me.  I  can  give  you  pleasant  employ- 
ment and  pay  you  twice  as  much." 

The  gu'l  refused  the  offer  at  first,  and  went  home. 
The  woman,  Emma  Mosel,  alias  Marie  Smith, 
brazenly  followed  her  to  where  she  lived  and  there 
renewed  her  importunities.  The  girl  at  last  yielded. 
She  boarded  a  car  with  the  woman  and,  knowing 
nothing  of  Chicago,  except  as  it  lay  between  her 
home  and  the  factory,  she  walked  unsuspectingly 
into  the  trap. 

She  was  taken  into  a  levee  resort  and  when  her 
companion  escorted  her  into  a  room,  where  there 
were  five  men,  rough  of  aspect  and  powerful  of 
stature,  they  leaped  at  the  victim  and  bore  her  into 
an  inner  room.  The  girl  struggled  violently  and 
finally  freed  one  arm.  She  drew  her  long  hat  pin 
from  her  hat  and  with  it  stabbed  two  of  her  captors, 
who  released  their  hold  sufficiently  to  permit  her 
feet  to  reach  the  floor.    She  sprang  towards  the  door. 


Ii8      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

The  men  followed.  Again  the  girl  faced  them  with 
the  uplifted  hat  pin,  and  they  stood  back  and 
cowered  in  fear.  She  sprang  for  the  door  and 
escaped,  screaming. 

Upon  reaching  the  street  she  ran  into  a  poUceman 
and  fell  into  his  arms,  but  as  she  could  speak  no 
English  he  could  not  understand.  Finally  detect- 
ives were  found  who  could  speak  her  language  and 
they  hunted  down  the  pandress,  who  was  well  known 
to  the  police,  and  also  caught  two  of  the  men. 

The  resort  where  the  girl  was  taken  was  closed, 
as  it  had  long  been  one  of  the  fester  spots  of  Chicago. 

Mrs.  Mosel,  after  a  preliminary  hearing  before 
Judge  McKenzie  Cleland,  was  held  to  the  grand 
jury.  While  in  the  county  jail  pending  action  by 
the  grand  jury,  she  was  discharged  by  Judge  Kersten 
upon  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  because  of  a  flaAv  in 
the  commitment  papers,  growing  out  of  the  careless 
manner  in  which  the  papers  had  been  drawn  up  by 
a  court  clerk. 

The  error  was  declared  to  be  fatal  to  the  validity 
of  the  papers.  The  court  sustained  a  contention  of 
her  attorney  that  the  papers  should  specify  the  of- 
fense exactly,  that  no  false  pretense  was  alleged  and 
that  other  important  legal  terms  were  omitted. 

The  hope  of  rearresting  the  Mosel  woman  sank 
hopelessly  out  of  sight  when  it  was  discovered  that 
the  statutes  provided  a  penalty  of  one  thousand  dol- 
lars for  rearresting  any  person  discharged  on  a  writ 
of  habeas  corpus.  The  woman  whose  offense  was 
particularly  flagrant  thus  escaped  punishment  be- 


Supplying  the  Demand  119 

cause  it  was  impossible  to  cure  the  flaw  carelessly 
made  by  a  court  clerk. 

Another  revolting  instance,  which  revealed  the 
horrors  of  this  slave  system,  was  brought  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  court  when  Mrs.  Stella  Papa,  a  twenty- 
two-year-old  white  slave,  swore  that  Dominick 
Papa,  after  marrying  her,  sold  her  to  the  proprietor 
of  a  disorderly  house  in  the  so-called  "  segregated 
district,"  compelling  her  to  support  him,  beating  her 
and  taking  the  money  which  she  earned  from  her. 

This  case  was  unique  in  that  the  woman  assisted 
in  the  cross-examination  of  her  husband.  It  was  a 
laugh,  meant  to  be  scornful  and  to  discredit  the 
words  of  the  pretty  witness,  that  brought  the 
avalanche  of  questions  upon  the  head  of  her  hus- 
band. The  young  wife  was  seated  upon  the  wit- 
ness stand  and  the  question  was  asked : 

"  Why  did  you  have  your  husband  arrested  ?  " 

"  Because  he  beat  me,"  answered  the  girl. 

"  Why  did  he  beat  you  ?  "  queried  the  judge. 

"  Because  I  asked  him  for  a  dollar  and  a  half." 

As  she  said  this,  the  husband,  who  was  seated  in 
the  defendant's  chau*  before  the  court,  looked  up  at 
the  court  and  laughed. 

The  woman  turned  upon  him  with  these  words  : 

"  Where  did  you  get  the  money  you  had  last 
night?" 

"  From  you,"  came  the  faltering  answer  of  the 
defendant. 

"  How  much  did  you  have  in  your  pocket  when 
I  asked  you  for  a  dollar  and  a  half  ?  "  cried  the  wife. 


^20      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  I  don't  know,"  stammered  the  husband, 

"  Oh,  yes,  you  do,"  and  the  woman  looked  as  if 
she  would  like  to  leap  at  his  throat.  "  You  had 
fifty  dollars.  It  was  my  money.  You  got  it  when 
you  sent  me  to  that  house  at Armour  Ave- 
nue. How  long  have,  you  worked  in  the  eleven 
months  of  our  married  life  ?  " 

"  But "  began  the  husband. 

"  Don't  say  you  couldn't  get  a  job.  You  haven't 
done  a  day's  work.  You  sold  me  and  you  lived  on 
me.  You  promised  to  support  me.  Instead  I  have 
supported  you." 

"Enough,"  said  the  judge.  "We  must  have 
order  in  the  court  room." 

When  the  testimony  was  finished  the  judge  who 
tried  the  case  found  the  defendant  guilty,  after 
administering  the  severest  rebuke  probably  ever 
heard  in  a  Chicago  court  room. 

These  cases  prove  that  the  traffickers  in  girls  have 
been  clever.  They  have  acquired  a  knowledge  of 
the  things  which  appeal  strongly  to  young  and  im- 
pressionable girls.  The  desire  of  girls  is  to  better 
their  social  condition,  a  wish  which  is  laudable  and 
honourable,  and  one  which  should  not  be  discour- 
aged for  a  moment, 

Necessity  often  causes  parents  to  encourage  their 
daughters  to  seek  employment,  but  the  deplorable 
feature  of  this  condition  is  that  many  girls  are  en- 
couraged and  even  forced  to  go  to  work  when  it  is 
really  not  necessary.  They  are  allowed  to  leave 
home  without  any  safeguard  being  placed  around 


Supplying  the  Demand  121 

them.  The  parents  often  do  not  take  the  trouble 
to  inquire  where  the  girls  are  going,  or  for  whom 
they  are  going  to  work,  or  Avith  whom  they  go 
away  to  get  this  work. 

A  careful  survey  of  the  situation  throughout  the 
United  States  reveals  the  same  conditions.  The 
number  of  girls  in  America  who  are  procured  be- 
cause of  these  conditions  is  almost  beyond  belief. 

When  the  girls  are  procured  and  placed  in  vice 
resorts  they  cannot  leave.  Their  stories  are  about 
the  same  after  they  are  made  slaves.  The  harden- 
ing process  during  which  they  are  held  as  slaves 
varies.  It  depends  upon  the  giiis  and  the  circum- 
stances of  their  procurement.  Sometimes  they  be- 
come acclimated  to  their  surroundings  in  a  few 
weeks,  and  sometimes  many  months  elapse  before 
the  o^vners  become  convinced  that  they  can  trust 
their  victims. 

As  we  have  seen  the  panders  frequent  public 
dance  halls,  amusement  parks,  stores,  factories,  and 
other  places  visited  by  girls  or  where  they  are  em- 
ployed. If  in  their  efforts  to  supply  the  demand 
the  panders  stopped  there  this  traific  might  be  more 
easily  checked,  but  they  go  further,  and  even  de- 
vise various  opportunities  and  schemes  to  enter  our 
very  homes.  In  fact  no  matter  how,  where,  or  in 
what  manner  girls  are  procured,  the  question  of  the 
traffic  in  girls  goes  right  to  the  home,  undermining 
the  fairest  heritage  of  life,  and  the  very  foundation 
of  all  government. 


X 

A  NEW  ENEMY 

♦»  1^  -TEAR-THEATRES"  are  those  which  to 
I^^J  all  apparent  intents  and  purposes  fur- 
JL  ^  nish  only  vulgar  theatrical  perform- 
ances. They  are  a  menace  to  society,  however,  in 
more  ways  than  by  furnishing  to  men  and  boys  ex- 
hibitions of  lust.  There  are  hundreds  of  them  in 
this  country.  Some  are  known  as  "  concert  halls," 
and  others  parade  under  the  name  of  "burlesque 
houses." 

To  the  casual  observer  who  might  chance  to  look 
in  upon  a  performance  at  a  "near-theatre,"  the 
place  would  not  present  a  different  appearance  from 
other  theatres.  If  the  visitor  should  chance  to  go 
into  the  balcony,  however,  he  would  find  there 
boxes  partitioned  off,  making  complete  rooms  in 
themselves,  where  the  occupants  were  quite  se- 
cluded and  alone.  In  each  of  these  boxes  would  be 
a  table,  around  which  would  be  arranged  half  a 
dozen  chairs  or  more.  In  the  entrance  to  the 
boxes  curtains  would  be  hung  which  entirely  cut 
off  the  view  within  to  any  person  who  might  pass 
up  or  down  the  aisle  which  fianked  the  walls  sur- 
rounding the  entire  balcony. 

Upon  request  the  usher  would  gladly  show  the 
122 


A  New  Enemy  123 

visitor  to  one  of  these  boxes  which  happened  to  be 
vacant,  and  when  the  visitor  was  comfortably 
seated  a  waiter  would  appear  and  wiping  off  the 
table,  would  look  inquiringly  at  the  visitor,  sug- 
gesting the  question : 

"  What  will  you  have  to  drink  ?  " 

The  order  for  the  drink  having  been  taken,  the 
waiter  and  his  ever-present  tray  would  disappear 
from  view,  and  a  moment  later  a  much  powdered 
and  painted  lass,  in  a  theatrical  costume,  perhaps 
with  abbreviated  skirts,  would  appear  on  the  scene. 
As  a  rule  she  would  pull  aside  the  curtains  gently 
and  poke  her  bleached  head  into  the  box  and  pass 
some  commonplace  remark.  Unless  the  girl  were 
timid,  which  would  hardly  be  the  case  except  with 
a  new  girl,  she  would  not  even  wait  for  an  invi- 
tation, but  would  walk  in  boldly  and  plant  herself 
down  in  a  seat  beside  the  visitor,  shove  her  chair 
up  as  close  as  possible  to  his  and  whisper  in  his  ear : 

"  I'm  awful  thirsty ;  won't  you  buy  me  a  drink  ?  " 

Scarcely  would  the  words  be  uttered  before  the 
non-committal  waiter  would  appear  again,  with  the 
remark : 

"  Shall  I  bring  in  the  drink,  sir  ?  " 

The  order  that  the  visitor  had  given  was  placed 
upon  the  table.  The  waiter,  suspicious  that  a 
stray  drop  of  liquor  or  a  speck  of  dust  had  stealth- 
ily found  its  way  to  the  top  of  the  table  would  get 
busy  with  his  towel  again  and  proceed  to  polish 
the  table  so  bright  that  the  visitor  might  use  it 
for  a  looking-glass.    As  the  waiter  did  this,  he 


124      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

would  look  inquiringly  at  the  visitor,  suggesting 
the  question : 

"  What  will  the  '  lady '  have  to  drink  ?  " 

The  "  lady "  would  order  the  highest  priced 
drink  in  the  house  and  the  waiter  would  return 
with  it  so  quickly  that  the  visitor  well  might  sur- 
mise that  he  had  only  gone  out  in  the  hall  and 
taken  it  from  his  pocket,  or  had  produced  it  with  a 
magic  wand. 

The  visitor  now  glances  for  a  second  at  the  per- 
formance. Almost  immediately  he  turns  his  at- 
tention once  more  to  the  "  fair  one  "  at  his  side. 
To  his  astonishment  the  drink  has  disappeared, 
almost  as  mysteriously  as  it  had  been  produced ; 
and  again  he  hears  the  refrain  : 

"  Buy  me  another  drink,  kid  ?  " 

If  it  happens  that  she  had  just  taken  part  in  one 
of  the  Egyptian  dances,  which  are  frequently  given 
in  this  class  of  houses,  she  will  doubtless  be  adorned 
with  the  thin,  flimsy  gauze  drapery  which  hangs 
loosely  over  the  skin-coloured  tights,  which  we  are 
told  is  indeed  the  costume  that  is  worn  in  the  part 
of  the  world  where  the  desert  of  Sahara  is  located. 

After  a  few  more  drinks  and  the  girl  has  prob- 
ably told  the  history  of  her  life,  which  may  or  may 
not  be  fiction,  and  she  has  nestled  closely  to  the 
visitor,  she  again  whispers  in  his  ear,  and  together 
they  leave  the  box. 

All  concert  halls  and  burlesque  theatres  are  not 
like  this  one,  but  it  was  to  such  a  place  in  Spring- 
field, Illinois,  that  two  girls  were  sent  in  December, 


A  New  Enemy  125 

1907,  with  contracts  from  a  theatrical  agent  in 
(Chicago.  They  reached  the  former  city  just  at 
dawn,  found  the  theatre  with  difficulty,  and  on 
account  of  the  earliness  of  the  hour  appUed  for  a 
room  at  a  rooming-house  next  door,  conducted  by 
a  good  Scotch  lady,  Mrs.  Stratton. 

She  asked  them  where  they  had  come  from  and 
what  they  intended  to  do. 

They  did  not  hesitate  to  tell  her  that  they  had 
come  from  Chicago,  where  they  had  been  working 
in  a  department  store,  to  go  upon  the  stage.  They 
were  jubilant  over  the  very  idea  of  becoming 
actresses,  and  seemed  to  be  fairly  radiant  with  joy. 
They  did  not  understand  the  Scotch  lady's  frown 
and  worried  expression  as  they  told  her  with  great 
enthusiasm  of  their  hopes  and  aspirations  for  the 
career  into  which  they  thought  they  were  about  to 
be  initiated. 

Mrs.  Stratton  assigned  them  to  a  room  and  said 
that  they  had  better  go  to  bed  and  sleep  for  a 
while,  and  that  she  would  awaken  them  about  ten 
o'clock.  The  ghls,  worn  out  from  their  long, 
sleepless  journey  on  a  day  coach,  gladly  acquiesced 
and  went  to  bed. 

Sad  mdeed  was  the  Scotch  woman  who  turned 
away  from  the  door  she  had  just  closed  upon  those 
two  happy,  tired  ghls.  Slowly  she  descended  the 
stairs,  wrapped  in  thought. 

It  was  just  two  weeks  and  two  days  later  when 
this  same  Scotch  lady,  Mrs.  Stratton,  was  seated  in 
the  box-like  witness  stand,  in  the  larger  of  the  two 


126      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

rooms  at  the  Harrison  Street  Court  in  Chicago. 
Judge  Wells,  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Municipal 
Court,  was  listening  to  the  proceedings. 

As  I  turned  to  address  her,  Mrs.  Stratton  started 
to  rise  from  the  chair,  and  I  said : 

"Just  remain  seated,  if  you  please,  and  state 
your  name  to  the  court." 

"  My  name  is  Isabelle  Stratton.  I  live  in  Spring- 
field, at East  Jefferson  Street.  I  keep  a  room- 
ing-house there  and  this  has  been  my  business  since 
my  husband  was  killed. 

"I  know  the  two  complaining  witnesses,  Miss 

Ida  P and  Miss  Evelyn  K ,  for  they  came 

to  my  house  on  the  twenty-ninth  of  December. 
They  came  on  the  morning  train  and  were  there 
until  Kew  Year's  evening,  when  I  sent  them  home 
and  paid  their  way.     They  wanted  to  go  home." 

Then  I  asked  her  the  question  : 

"  Do  you  know  what  these  girls  did  there  in 
Springfield  ?  " 

"  I  am  generally  in  the  habit,  if  any  young  lady 
comes  to  my  place,  to  ask  them  what  their  position 
is,  so  that  I  will  get  the  right  people  in  there.  So 
I  asked  the  girls  what  they  were  going  to  work  at, 
which  I  thought  was  my  duty." 

"  I  object  to  her  thoughts,"  shouted  the  counsel 
for  the  defendant. 

"  Yes,  just  tell  what  was  said,"  I  remarked. 

"  They  said  Mr.  Henderson  sent  them  down  from 
Chicago  to  go  to  McCann's  theatre,"  continued  the 
witness,  "the  'Big  0'  or  the  'Olympic'  I  said  to 


A  New  Enemy  127 

them,  '  "Well,  you  can  go,  girls,  but  I  advise  you  not 
to.  You  can  suit  yourselves.'  And  they  reported 
at  the  theatre  at  half -past  seven  o'clock  at  night. 
I  know  that  they  went  at  half-past  seven  o'clock 
and  they  came  in " 

"  I  object,"  interposed  the  defendant's  counsel. 

"  Did  you  watch  them  ?  "  inquired  the  judge. 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  did,"  was  the  response.  "  My  house 
is  right  adjoining  the  theatre  and  I  can  see  right  in." 

"  Go  ahead  and  state  what  you  saw,"  I  then  said 
to  her. 

"  Well,  the  girls  went  there,  but  they  came  back 
a  little  after  eight  and  they  were  crying.  They 
stopped  in  the  hallway  and  I  went  out  and  asked 
them  what  was  the  trouble.  They  said,  '  We  have 
to  sell  drinks  over  there,'  and  they  said  they  had 
never  done  that  before  and  were  not  going  to  work 
at  that  now.  They  said  that  Mr.  McCann,  the 
owner,  the  head  gazaboo,  told  them  that. 

"  I  said,  '  Girls,  don't  you  go.'  They  said,  '  We 
have  no  money ;  what  can  we  do  ? '  Then  I  an- 
swered, '  You've  got  my  room,  haven't  you,  and  you 
have  my  table,  and  I  will  see  a  way  of  getting  you 
back  to  Chicago,  but  if  you  go  in  that  theatre,  that 
is  the  last  of  you ;  you  are  down  and  you  will  never 
be  right  again.'  After  I  had  advised  them  not  to 
go,  they  said  they  were  not  going  to  go  there  to 
work  and  would  go  home.  At  quarter  to  nine  they 
were  in  bed.  At  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  a 
young  man  came  to  the  front  door  and  knocked.  I 
went  out  and  asked  him  what  he  wanted.     He  said 


128      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

he  wanted  to  see  those  two  girls  from  Chicago.  He 
said  Mr.  McCann  had  sent  him  over  there  with  a 
note.  I  told  him  to  give  me  the  note  and  I  would 
pass  it  to  the  girls,  and  then  he  said  he  didn't  have 
any  note.  '  Mr.  McCann  said,'  he  says, '  for  them  to 
come  over  there  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning.'  I 
went  and  told  the  girls  and  they  said  they  wouldn't 
go.     They  said  they  didn't  want  any  more." 

"  What  did  they  do  the  next  day  ?  "  I  then  asked 
her. 

"  Well,  on  the  thirtieth  they  went  to  the  police 
station  and  the  humane  oiScer  came  to  look  after 
them  and  he  came  over  to  my  house  at  eight  o'clock 
at  night.  Except  when  the  girls  went  to  the  police 
station  they  were  in  the  house  most  of  the  day,  and 
the  only  time  they  went  out  was  to  go  down  below 
to  a  fruit  store  to  buy  some  bananas.  They  were 
home  that  evening  and  went  to  bed  at  nine  o'clock. 

"  The  next  day  they  got  up  at  eight  o'clock  or 
something  like  that  and  just  sat  in  the  parlour  all 
day  until  they  left  for  Chicago  on  the  midnight 
train.  A  friend  of  mine  went  with  them  to  the 
depot  and  saw  them  away  on  the  train.  During 
the  day  they  left,  the  humane  oiRcer  came  to  my 
house  and  said  they  told  him  over  at  the  '  dump ' 
that  these  girls  were  dope  fiends,  and  he  said  to  me, 
'  Mrs.  Stratton,  come  up  to  the  girls'  room  with 
me.'  I  said,  '  All  right,'  and  went  up.  He  searched 
their  valises  and  whatever  they  had,  but  there  was 
nothing  of  the  kind  there,  for  I  sat  and  watched 
him  all  the  time. 


A  New  Enemy  129 

"After  tliat  Mr.  Golden,  the  chief  of  police, 
came  to  my  house.  He  came  up  and  talked  to  the 
girls  and  asked  if  the  girls  had  used  some  kind  of 
dope,  and  the  girls  said, '  There  has  been  one  man 
here  searching  our  things,  and  you  can  too.'  He 
said,  '  No,  I  want  to  do  what  is  justice  towards  you 
girls  and  towards  Mr.  McCann,'  and  he  said,  'if 
we  find  that  you  girls  are  all  right,  we  are  going  to 
pay  your  way  back  to  Chicago.'  Well,  he  was 
going  to  come  back,  but  nobody  came,  and  the  girls 
got  to  crying,  and  I  said,  '  Dry  up  your  tears ;  I'll 
find  a  way  of  getting  you  gu'ls  back  home.  If  they 
don't  pay  your  way  back  home,  I  will  do  it ; '  so  I 
sent  the  girls  home." 

"  How  near  do  you  live  to  the  '  Big  O '  did  you 
say  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"There  is  a  thin  brick  wall  between  us,"  she 
answered.  "  We  can  hear  them  talking  and  singing 
and  we  can  see  into  the  top  floor,  where  all  the 
'  monkey  shines '  is.  In  the  warm  nights  they  have 
the  windows  pulled  down  and  I  looked  in  from  my 
porch.  Well,  about  maybe  a  quarter  to  three  in 
the  morning,  they  kept  this  '  dump '  gomg  until 
three  o'clock  in  the  morning  that  day,  but  they  are 
getting  better  now.  On  that  morning  I  seen  young 
boys  not  more  than  eighteen  or  nineteen  years  old 
sitting  on  seats  and  all  naked,  and  the  girls  in  their 
laps,  and  I  think  it  is  a  disgrace  to  humanity.  Now, 
that  is  the  kind  of  a  '  dump '  they  run  and  this  was 
why  I  was  embittered  against  the  girls'  going 
there. 


130      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  They  were  all  drunk,"  she  continued,  "  and  I 
have  seen  them  do  things  just  as  bad  as  they 
could." 

"  How  often  have  you  seen  such  actions  as  that  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  Well,  that  is  once  and  I  never  looked  to  see  any 
more.  I  got  enough.  I  got  my  eyes  filled  for  be- 
ing inquisitive." 

I  said  to  her  : 

"  Now,  was  this  room  that  you  looked  into  right 
in  the  theatre  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir,"  she  said.  "  It  is  above  the  theatre, 
just  like  a  big  circle  all  the  way  back  and  little 
tables  set,  and  the  girls  going  around  among  the 
men  and  hugging  the  men  and  getting  them  to  buy 
drinks.  I  had  seen  them  several  times  before  that, 
but  this  is  once  I  have  seen  what  I  told  you.  I 
guess  I  have  seen  them  not  less  than  five  times  any- 
how." 

"  Could  you  ever  hear  what  they  said  when  the 
windows  were  open  ?  "  she  was  asked. 

"  Yes,  sir,  I  could  hear  the  girls  coax  the  men  to 
buy  drinks,  and  that  is  what  I  would  call  'hus- 
tling for  the  drinks.'  I  have  heard  them  swearing 
and  calling  the  men  pets.  The  girls  were  swearing 
too.  One  morning  between  two  and  three  o'clock 
I  woke  up  and  heard  a  girl  screaming.  I  thought 
at  first  somebody  was  fighting  in  my  house.  I 
couldn't  tell  where  it  was.  I  ran  out  on  the  back 
porch  and  there  she  was  over  in  the '  Big  O  '  and  she 
was  screaming, '  For  God's  sake,  leave  me  go  home  I 


A  New  Enemy  131 

For  God's  sake,  let  me  go  home ! '  I  hollered  to 
them  to  leave  the  girl  alone. 

"  At  other  tunes  I  could  hear  the  girls  singing, 
but  I  couldn't  see  the  stage.  I  could  just  see  in 
the  part  where  they  hustled  drinks.  They  have 
rooms  right  there  in  the  theatre  where  the  girls 
go  to." 

Mr.  David  Eoss,  who  had  come  up  from  Spring- 
field in  behalf  of  the  Illinois  Free  Employment 
Bureau,  which  is  a  state  institution,  took  the  wit- 
ness stand  after  the  examination  of  Mrs.  Stratton 
had  been  concluded.  He  was  followed  first  by 
Mr.  Charles  Tinlin,  of  Kiverton,  Illinois,  seven 
miles  from  Springfield,  and  then  by  Mr.  E.  B. 
Putnam.  All  of  these  gentlemen  testified  in  no 
uncertain  terms  as  to  the  unsavoury  reputation  of 
the  Big  O. 

The  next  witnesses  were  Evelyn  K and  Ida 

P .     As  their  testimony  was  so  nearly  alike,  I 

shall  let  Evelyn  K ,  who  was  the  younger  of 

the  two  girls,  for  she  was  only  seventeen  years  old, 
relate  their  experiences  in  the  theatrical  world. 

Evelyn  told  that  she  had  been  working  in  the 

store,  where  she  was  selling  dress  linings.  The 
day  before  Christmas,  when  the  store  was  crowded, 
a  woman  came  up  to  her  counter  and  asked  to  see 
some  goods. 

"I  showed  her  the  goods,"  Evelyn  testified, 
"  and  the  woman  asked  if  that  would  be  enough 
for  a  stage  costume.  I  said,  '  I  don't  know.'  She 
began  to  talk  to  me  about  going  on  the  stage,  and 


132      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

asked  whether  I  would  like  to  go  on  the  stage. 
She  said  I  could  make  a  whole  lot  more  than  work- 
ing in  the  store.  She  told  me  I  was  too  good 
looking  to  waste  my  time  behind  the  counter  and 
gave  me  a  card  with  Mr.  Henderson's  name  on  it, 
with  the  address, La  Salle  Street. 

"  That   night  Miss  P and  I  got  to  talking 

about  the  stage  and  I  showed  her  the  card  and  told 
her  what  the  woman  had  said  to  me.  "We  were 
both  working  at  the  same  store. 

"  The  day  after  Christmas  we  made  up  our  minds 
to  go  and  see  Mr.  Henderson  and  we  found  him  at  the 
address  given  by  the  woman.  When  we  got  there 
we  met  some  girl  standing  in  the  hall  and  she 
asked  us  what  we  were  applying  for.  We  said  we 
wanted  to  go  on  the  stage,  and  she  says,  '  I  will 
tell  Mr.  Henderson.'  I  saw  her  go  in  and  talk  to 
Mr.  Henderson  and  then  she  came  out  and  said, 
'Girls,  it  is  just  the  thing.  You  can  go  on  the 
stage.'  Mr.  Henderson  came  out  then  and  we 
talked  to  him.  Mr.  Henderson  said, '  Sure,  you  can 
go  on  the  stage.'  He  says  he  would  send  us  to 
Springfield.  He  told  us  to  get  our  clothes  ready 
and  go  the  following  Saturday.  He  said  he  would 
pay  our  way  and  would  get  our  tickets  from  the 
theatre  in  Springfield  and  when  we  got  out  there 
he  would  advance  our  board  and  we  would  get 
twenty-five  dollars  a  week. 

"  I  cannot  say  whether  we  signed  a  contract  that 
night  or  Saturday  morning.  When  we  got  to 
Springfield  Mr.  McCann  called  our  attention  to 


A  New  Enemy  133 

the  part  of  the  contract  where  it  mentioned  twenty 
per  cent." 

"  Did  you  know  anything  about  the  twenty  per 
cento  before  you  started  ?"  I  asked. 

"  No,  sir.  That  was  after  we  got  to  Springfield. 
We  hadn't  read  our  contracts  carefully. 

"Saturday  morning,  the  morning  we  were  to 
start,  we  went  to  Mr.  Henderson's  office  and  he 
said  the  tickets  had  not  come  up  yet.  He  told  us 
we  would  have  to  stay  over  Sunday  and  go  the 
following  Monday.  We  said  we  could  not,  that 
our  board  had  run  out.     He  said, '  I  have  a  place  m 

the Hotel,  where  I  stay,  and  you  can  go 

there.'  We  did  not  want  to  go  there.  We  said, 
'  No,'  we  wanted  to  leave  Saturday  night.  Then  he 
said,  '  All  right ; '  to  go  out  and  spend  that  after- 
noon and  come  back  at  four  o'clock  and  the  tickets 
would  be  up  there  then. 

"  We  took  a  train  that  night,  I  think  it  was  the 
11 :  45  train,  and  got  to  Springfield  at  five  o'clock 
the  next  morning.  When  we  got  there  we  saw 
Mrs.  Stratton's  place  and  went  in  and  asked  to 
rent  a  room.  In  the  evening  we  went  over  to  the 
theatre  and  Mr.  McCann  told  us  that  the  next  day 
we  should  come  to  rehearsal.  That  was  on  Monday. 
We  told  him  we  were  to  have  our  board  advanced 
us  and  Mr.  McCann  told  us  they  had  advanced  our 
board  there.  He  says,  'When  girls  come  from 
Chicago  they  have  to  board  at  the  theatre.  If  you 
want  to  work  for  me  you  will  have  to  take  a  room 
here.'    We  says  we  will  not  room  there.    Then  he 


134      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

says  to  us,  we  ^Yere  to  be  chorus  girls  and  we  were 
to  sell  drinks  and  we  were  to  room  over  there,  and 
then  he  explained  about  the  twenty  per  cent.  He 
says, '  When  you  girls  are  not  on  the  stage  you  will 
have  to  hustle  drinks  and  you  get  twenty  per  cent, 
on  all  the  drinks  you  get  the  men  to  buy.' 

"We  went  back  to  Mrs.  Stratton's  and  started 
crying.  We  told  her  we  did  not  want  to  work 
there  and  did  not  like  the  place.  We  told  her  we 
had  to  sell  drinks  over  there.  She  said,  'Girls, 
don't  go  there  because  it's  not  a  nice  place.'  We 
did  not  know  how  to  get  back  to  Chicago,  and  she 
said  she  would  help  us  get  back.  So  the  next  day 
she  sent  us  to  the  chief  of  police  and  he  came  up 
to  the  house." 

During  the  trial,  which  lasted  several  days, 
twenty-one  witnesses  beside  Mr.  Henderson  were 
called  by  the  defendant's  lawyer  in  the  endeavour 
to  show  that  the  Big  O  was  a  regular  theatre  and 
not  a  "  near-theatre,"  or  a  cross  between  a  theatre 
and  a  disreputable  house,  and  also  to  establish  the 
fact  that  William  F.  Henderson  was  a  theatrical 
agent  in  good  standing. 

Among  these  witnesses  were  Cornelius  J.  Mc- 
Cann,  one  of  the  owners  of  the  Big  O.  Many  of 
the  defendant's  witnesses  were  theatrical  people, 
most  of  them  variety  actors  and  actresses.  Every 
one  of  them  testified  that  they  did  not  live  in  the 
theatre  while  they  were  acting  there  and  usually 
remained  only  a  week,  giving  some  special  act  dur- 
ing the  performance.    But  they  also  reluctantly 


A  New  Enemy  135 

acknoTvledged  upon  cross-examination  that  the 
chorus  girls  lived  at  the  Big  O. 

A  typical  cross-examination  of  these  witnesses  in 
this  regard  was  that  of  Lillian  Emmett  McNeill. 

"  My  specialty,"  she  said,  "  is  singing  and  danc- 
ing and  I  performed  down  in  the  Olympic  Theatre 
in  Springfield  the  third  week  in  September  last,  and 
my  engagement  lasted  a  week.  I  lived  about  six 
blocks  from  the  theatre." 

The  question  was  then  asked  by  me  : 

"  "Were  you  informed  by  Mr.  McCann  that  the 
actresses  were  living  in  the  theatre  ?  " 

"No,  sir." 

"Did  you  associate  or  mingle  with  the  chorus 
girls  there  ?  " 

"  No,  I  just  saw  them  around,  and  they  me." 

"  They  lived  in  the  theatre  there,  didn't  they  ?  " 
I  asked. 

"  Some  of  them  may,  and  some  of  them  may 
not ;  I  never  was  back  in  their  rooms.  I  think 
they  had  rooms  up-stairs,  but  I  was  never  back 
there.  I  never  was  asked  to  go  out  and  drink  with 
the  audience." 

"  The  high  class  actresses  would  not  live  up  there, 
would  they  ?  "  she  was  asked. 

"  No,  sir,"  she  answered. 

The  evidence  in  this  case  was  concluded  on  Jan- 
uary twenty-eighth  and  William  F.  Henderson 
was  held  to  the  grand  jury  upon  the  charge  of  at- 
tempting to  entice  unmarried  females  of  former 
chaste  life  and  conversation  to  enter  an  immoral 


136      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

house  for  immoral  purposes,  this  being  a  prelimi- 
nary hearing  by  the  court. 

Henderson  was  indicted  by  the  grand  jury,  but 
the  night  before  his  case  was  to  be  tried  in  the 

criminal    court,   Ida    P and   Evelyn    K 

mysteriously  disappeared. 

The  Chicago  Law  and  Order  League  had  gener- 
ously looked  after  the  girls  since  their  return  to 
Chicago  from  Springfield.  In  fact,  it  was  to  this 
organization  that  the  girls  had  first  applied  for  help, 
and  its  oflicers  had  brought  them  to  me.  Mr. 
Arthur  Burrage  Farwell,  of  this  organization, 
and  Mr.  William  H.  Cruden,  of  the  Illinois 
Free  Emplojniient  Bureau,  volunteered  to  aid  the 
girls  until  the  case  was  called  for  trial.  They 
had  sent  them  to  the  home  of  Mrs.  Lizzie  Levy, 
who  lived  on  Lill  Street,  to  remain  during  the 
interval  between  the  preliminary  hearing  and 
the  trial  in  the  criminal  court.  Two  detectives 
from  the  assistant  chief's  office  had  been  assigned 
to  aid  in  securing  evidence  against  Henderson  and 
also  to  the  duty  of  looking  after  the  welfare  of  the 
two  girls,  who  were  the  principal  witnesses.  These 
men  had  called  almost  daily  at  the  Levy  home  and 
were  convinced  that  the  girls  were  comfortable 
there. 

On  the  morning  that  Henderson's  case  was  called 
for  trial  in  the  criminal  court  the  detectives  went 
to  the  Lill  Street  house  to  get  the  girls  and  take 
them  to  court.  Upon  arriving  there,  however, 
Mrs.  Levy  evidenced  great  nervousness  and  hesi- 


A  New  Enemy  137 

tatingly  told  them  that  she  thought  the  girls  had 
been  kidnapped.  Mrs.  Levy  said  that  she  had  gone 
to  bed  as  usual  and  the  girls  were  sitting  up,  talk- 
ing, and  that  to  her  great  surprise  in  the  morning 
they  were  nowhere  to  be  found. 

Telegrams  were  sent  broadcast  throughout  the 
country  and  pictui^es  of  the  girls  were  published  in 
newspapers  in  many  different  cities. 

The  Henderson  case  was  full  enough  of  sensa- 
tion, but  the  mysterious  disappearance  of  these 
girls  added  the  greatest  sensation  of  all.  The  fact 
that  the  girls  had  disappeared  the  very  night  be- 
fore the  trial  naturally  caused  the  suspicion  that 
some  one  connected  with  the  case  had  taken  them 
away.  The  fear  was  entertained  that  the  girls  had 
been  dealt  with  foully.  The  newspapers  gave  such 
prominence  to  notices  of  their  disappearance  that 
the  affair  was  discussed  in  all  quarters  of  the  coun- 
try. 

Mrs.  Levy  and  others  in  her  household  were  cited 
into  court  by  the  judge  and  closely  questioned  as 
to  any  knowledge  of  the  girls'  sudden  departure, 
but  everything  had  been  covered  up  so  well  that 
nothing  could  be  learned.  Weeks  and  Aveeks  passed 
and  although  detectives  of  various  cities  as  well  as 
the  detectives  of  the  Chicago  Law  and  Order 
League  followed  up  many  clues  they  were  unsuc- 
cessful in  locating  the  girls. 

One  morning  I  was  sitting  in  my  office  opening 
my  mail  when  I  came  across  a  letter  from  Mil- 
waukee, Wisconsin.     The  letter  was  from  a  woman 


138      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

and  stated  that  she  had  seen  articles  in  the  news- 
papers about  the  disappearance  of  two  girls  who 
were  wanted  in  Chicago  as  witnesses,  and  had  seen 
the  girls'  pictures  also  in  the  papers,  and  that  there 
were  two  strange  girls  in  the  house  next  door  to 
where  she  lived  who  looked  very  much  like  these 
pictures.     She  believed  they  were  being  kept  there. 

I  sent  for  Frank  Hultz,  one  of  the  detectives  for 
the  Chicago  Law  and  Order  League,  and  in  com- 
pany with  a  representative  of  the  Illinois  Free  Em- 
ployment Bureau,  he  went  to  Milwaukee  that  even- 
ing to  follow  up  the  clue.  They  found  the  girls 
there  and  brought  them  back  to  Chicago. 

"When  they  arrived  the  next  morning,  the  girls 
were  brought  directly  to  my  office.  It  was  ten 
weeks  since  they  had  disappeared.  They  then  told 
me  the  story  of  how  they  were  induced  by  decep- 
tion to  leave  the  city.  They  said  that  a  man  by 
the  name  of  Herman  Keller  had  come  to  Mrs. 
Levy's  home  several  times  while  they  were  there 
and  he  seemed  to  be  a  friend  of  Mrs.  Levy.  The 
night  that  they  were  taken  away  the  girls  over- 
heard Mrs.  Levy  and  Keller  making  plans  to  take 
them  out  of  to\\Ti.  Keller  then  told  the  girls  that 
the  trial  had  been  put  over  several  weeks,  that  he 
had  secured  an  excellent  place  for  them  to  work  in 
another  city  and  that  they  could  come  back  any 
time  and  appear  as  witnesses  at  the  trial.  Mrs. 
Levy  advised  them  that  it  would  perhaps  be  the 
best  thing  for  them  to  do,  and  as  they  were  gettmg 
tired  of  living  at  Mrs.  Levy's  without  working  and 


A  New  Enemy  139 

with  many  restraints  upon  their  liberties,  they  hesi- 
tatingly accepted  the  projffered  opportunity  of  ob- 
taining employment. 

They  said  they  were  suspicious  that  something 
was  wrong,  but  they  knew  that  the  officers  had 
great  confidence  in  Mrs.  Levy  and  since  she  had 
told  them  that  this  plan  would  be  a  good  one  for 
them,  they  reluctantly  went  aw^ay  with  Keller.  A 
carriage  was  outside  the  door,  waiting,  and  the  half- 
persuaded  and  half-forced  girls  were  pushed  into 
the  carriage,  which  took  them  to  the  station  at  two 
o'clock  in  the  morning.  There  the  girls  said  they 
saw  Henderson  lurking  in  the  background.  Keller 
got  on  the  train  with  them  and  took  them  to 
Milwaukee.  After  they  arrived  in  Milwaukee, 
Keller  took  them,  as  he  said,  to  the  home  of  a 
friend.  The  girls  were  kept  in  this  house  practically 
as  prisoners. 

Keller  remained  in  Milwaukee  a  day  or  two  and 
during  this  time  he  told  the  girls  that  if  his  advice  was 
worth  anything  to  them  he  would  recommend  that 
they  stay  in  Milwaukee,  because  if  they  came  back 
to  Chicago  to  the  trial  they  would  be  subjected  to 
all  sorts  of  insults.  He  gave  them  each  a  hundred 
dollars  and  told  them  that  he  would  send  them 
more  money  and  later  on  would  take  them  to  New 
York  City. 

The  girls  said  they  were  watched  every  minute 
so  that  they  could  not  get  word  to  Chicago. 

It  Avas  not  a  surprise  to  us  to  learn  that  the  girls 
implicated  Mrs.  Levy  in   the  plot  to  spirit  them 


140      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

away  from  Chicago.  We  had  suspected  her  all  the 
time.  We  had  even  sent  a  woman  detective  to 
her  house  to  see  whether  she  could  not  get  some 
information  from  her,  but  she  was  not  to  be  so 
easily  trajDped.  We  gathered  some  other  facts 
which  convinced  us  that  several  other  people  were 
in  the  ring  of  conspirators  who  planned  this  trick 
against  the  courts.  Although  there  are  lots  of 
things  which  we  may  know,  we  cannot  always 
prove  them,  and  though  we  were  convinced  that 
certain  others  were  implicated  we  could  not  gather 
direct  evidence  with  which  to  prove  their  guilt. 

Mrs.  Levy  and  Herman  Keller  were  both  arrested 
for  inducing  the  two  girl  witnesses  against  Hender- 
son to  leave  the  state  and  both  were  found  guilty.* 

In  the  face  of  all  this,  while  Ida  and  Evelyn  were 
in  the  Harrison  Street  Annex,  the  dormitory  where 
girl  witnesses  are  often  kept  while  awaiting  a  trial, 
the  friends  of  Henderson  were  bold  enough  to  try 
to  get  the-  witnesses  away  from  the  control  of  the 
authorities  and  to  prevent  them  if  possible  from 
testifying  in  court ;  a  writ  of  habeas  corpus  was  ap- 
plied for,  stating  that  the  girls  were  being  kept  in 
the  Annex  against  their  will.  When  the  girls  were 
taken  before  the  court  they  told  the  judge  that 
they  did  not  want  to  leave  the  Annex  and  were 
staying  there  of  their  own  free  will  and  accord. 

*  Mrs.  Lizzie  Levy  afterwards  obtained  a  new  trial.  In  March, 
1910,  her  case  finally  came  to  trial  again,  and  the  jiidge,  after 
hearing  the  testimony  of  the  state's  witnesses  then  available, 
discharged  her. 


A  New  Enemy  141 

The  writ  was,  of  course,  denied  and  the  girls  were 
returned  to  the  Annex,  where  they  were  safe  from 
kidnappers. 

Later  on,  when  McCann  and  Henderson  were 
tried  for  conspiracy  to  commit  an  act  against  public 
morals  and  to  procure  these  girls  for  an  immoral 
house,  the  court  decided  that  it  was  without  jurisdic- 
tion so  far  as  McCann  was  concerned,  because  he 
had  done  nothing  in  Cook  County  to  aid  the  con- 
spiracy, and  there  was  not  sufficient  evidence  to 
show  that  Henderson  knew  that  this  place  do^^^l  in 
Springfield,  to  which  he  had  sent  the  girls,  was  an 
immoral  resort,  and  accordingly  both  these  men 
escaped  punishment. 

The  Illinois  State  Labour  Commission,  however, 
was  not  bound  by  any  legal  technicalities,  and  after 
a  special  hearing  of  the  facts,  revoked  Henderson's 
license  as  a  theatrical  agent.  He  has  never  been 
allowed  to  conduct  an  agency  since  that  time. 
About  the  fii^st  of  November,  1909,  Henderson 
made  an  heroic  effort  to  regain  his  license  and 
employed  at  least  two  attorneys  to  accomplish  this 
result  for  him,  but  his  petition  was  met  by  a  stub- 
born resistance,  and  no  license  was  granted. 

This  was  the  first  case  I  had  discovered  in  which 
a  licensed  employment  agent  had  used  his  ad- 
vantageous position  to  supply  the  vice  markets 
with  girls  unacquainted  with  these  resorts,  but  I 
saw  that  this  might  be  an  effective  instrumentality 
for  the  pander,  and  knomng  his  cunning,  I  kept 
on  the  lookout  for  the  new  enemy. 


142      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

In  the  following  February,  Eose  DeS and 

Helen  F applied  to  theatrical  agent  Harding 

for  positions,  and  were  sent  by  him  to  Bruder's 
"  concert  hall  "  on  the  west  side  of  Chicago. 

Upon  finding  this  place  to  be  a  "  near-theatre ," 
where  they  were  expected  to  "  hustle  drinks,"  they 
refused  to  stay.  They  slipped  away,  leaving  part 
of  their  clotliing  there,  and  brought  this  affair  to 
the  attention  of  the  jDroper  authorities. 

Two  sixteen-year-old   girh,  Alice  LaB and 

Olga  K ,  were  a  short  time  after  this  booked 

by  John  J,  Deering,  a  licensed  theatrical  agent,  and 
sent  to  a  resort.  It  was  found  that  false  represen- 
tations had  been  made  to  these  young  girls.  This 
resulted  in  the  revoking  of  the  agent's  license  and 
he  was  fined  fifty  dollars  and  costs. 

An  employment  agency,  conducted  by  M.  G.  En- 
right  and  Margaret  Hoen,  an  assistant  in  his  office, 

sent   Mary  S ,  a   German  girl,  to  one  of  the 

resorts  in  the  underworld,  for  which  they  were  both 
arrested.  When  the  case  came  to  trial,  the  de- 
fense was  made  that  a  young  man,  whose  mother 
kept  a  hotel  at  Fox  Lake,  IlKnois,  had  applied  to 
the  emplojmient  agency  for  a  servant.  The  em- 
ployment agent  said  that  he  knew  the  boy's  mother 
and  had  supplied  her  with  help  for  a  long  time,  and 
when  the  young  man,  whom  he  knew,  made  a  re- 
quest for  a  servant  girl,  he  did  not  distrust  the  mo- 
tives, and  gladly  complied  with  his  request. 

Both  Enright  and  the  Hoen  woman  disclaimed  any 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  the  girl  was  to  be  taken 


A  New  Enemy  143 

to  an  immoral  house.  The  girl  was  taken  by  the 
young  man  to  a  resort  in  the  levee  district,  where 
she,  expecting  honest  employment,  was  forced  into 
a  life  of  shame.  After  the  young  man  had  placed 
her  in  the  house  he  disappeared  and  was  never 
heard  of  again.  Because  it  was  not  clear  as  to 
whether  or  not  the  employment  agency  people  had 
made  arrangements  with  the  resort  owners  directly, 
Enright  was  given  a  fine  of  only  fifty  dollars,  and 
the  woman  employee,  Margaret  Hoen,  who  had 
transacted  the  business  with  the  young  man,  was 
fined  one  hundred  dollars,  and  sentenced  to  one 
day  in  jail. 

Thus  it  came  to  the  attention  of  the  people  that 
not  only  panders  like  William  McNamara  were 
parading  in  the  guise  of  theatrical  agents  and 
managers,  but  actual  agents  having  a  license  to 
supply  theatrical  companies  with  help,  and  licensed 
employment  bureaus,  were  really  a  part  of  the  vice 
traffic  system. 


XI 

NEED  OF  NEW  LAWS 

BEGINNING  early  in  the  year  1907  girl 
traffic  cases  streamed  constantly  into  the 
courts,  and  it  was  soon  found  that  the  laws 
of  Illinois  were  inadequate  to  meet  the  situation. 
Under  these  archaic,  moss-covered  laws  the  dealers 
in  girl  slaves  had  grown  rich  and  powerful.  The 
laws  were  so  full  of  loopholes,  through  which 
the  slave  traders  crawled,  that  it  became  almost  a 
farce  to  bring  them  into  court  and  try  them  under 
the  law  for  enticing  females  into  immoral  houses. 
They  were  even  successful  in  eluding  the  vagrancy 
law.  To  make  convictions  sure,  the  only  charge  to 
place  against  them  was  for  corrupting  the  public 
morals  under  the  Disorderly  Conduct  Act,  which 
carried  with  it  a  fine  of  not  more  than  two  hundred 
dollars  as  the  highest  penalty. 

In  order  to  supplant  the  state  law,  which  the 
traders  had  ridiculed  for  so  long,  with  a  more  mod- 
ern law,  it  was  necessary  to  prove  to  the  people 
and  the  legislators  the  defects  of  the  law  as  it  then 
existed.  Under  the  law  as  it  stood  there  was  a  com- 
bination of  facts  which  had  to  be  perfect  in  order 
to  secure  a  conviction.  To  prosecute  the  panders 
144 


Need  of  New  Laws  145 

successfully,  the  girls  whom  they  procured  had  to 
be  unmarried  persons  of  previous  chaste  life,  and 
they  must  have  been  procured  by  false  pretenses  and 
deception.  If  they  were  brought  from  another  state, 
it  was  necessary  also  that  the  ghis  be  under  the  age 
of  eighteen,  and  if  they  were  harboured  in  unmoral 
houses  they  must  be  under  the  age  of  eighteen. 
The  same  conditions  had  to  be  met  if  the  panders 
were  charged  with  abduction  or  seduction. 

Because  married  women  could  not  testify  against 
their  husbands,  and  it  was  a  crime  to  place  un- 
married women  only,  in  houses  of  prostitution,  the 
slave  traders  would  have  their  "  cadets  "  marry  the 
girls.  We  have  seen  that  Jack  Daily  got  ten  dol- 
lars for  marrying  Hazel,  and  that  "  Lefty  "  Johns 
married  a  gu-l  in  order  to  place  her  in  a  disorderly 
house.  Another  man  was  said  to  have  married  six 
girls,  whom  he  afterwards  forced  into  houses  of  ill 
repute. 

Among  other  victuns  of  the  bigamous  marriage 
system  was  Alta  P ,  who  was  rescued  by  De- 
tectives Egan  and  J^orton,  just  as  she  was  ready  to 
go  to  Indiana  Harbor  to  be  married  to  a  pander. 
She  was  returned  to  her  parents  who  lived  at  Brad- 
ley place. 

Three  other  girls.  Pearl  C ,  Eose  M and 

Edith  McL were  not  so  fortunate.     All  three 

were  married  before  they  discovered  their  husband's 
purpose  in  marrymg  them.  The  last  two  were 
from  Elgin,  Illinois.  Eose  went  home,  while  Edith 
was  placed  in  the  House  of  the  Good  Shepherd, 


146      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

and  her  husband,  who  eluded  the  police,  continued 
plying  his  trade  of  enticing  other  girls  to  a  like  fate. 

Advantage  was  thus  taken  of  the  fact  that  under 
the  law  as  it  existed,  those  who  procured  or  kept 
a  married  woman  in  an  immoral  resort,  no  matter 
what  her  age  might  be,  could  not  be  prosecuted  by 
the  state.  Even  a  girl  of  fifteen  could  be  married 
off  to  some  pander  for  the  sole  purpose  of  being  sold 
and  kept  in  one  of  those  places,  where  she  was  sub- 
jected to  the  most  foul  and  nauseating  practices, 
and  no  prosecution  could  be  had. 

The  panders  changed  their  names  so  frequently, 
and  assumed  so  many  aliases,  and  travelled  about 
the  country  so  much,  that  it  was  practically  impos- 
sible to  hunt  them  down  and  prosecute  them  for 
bigamy.  In  order  to  do  this  also,  it  would  be  nec- 
essary to  have  the  first  wife  in  court,  and  it  would 
be  like  "  hunting  for  a  needle  in  a  haystack  "  to  at- 
tempt to  find  one  of  these  girls  to  whom  the 
pander  had  been  married  a  year  or  so  before.  The 
girls,  after  they  had  been  in  the  houses  for  a  few 
months,  were  migratory  and  changed  about  often. 
Therefore  it  would  be  impossible  in  most  instances 
to  bring  into  court  both  the  girl  and  the  pander  to 
prove  former  marriage  and  establish  a  case  of  big- 
amy. 

Just  because  a  girl  had  not  been  of  chaste  life,  it 
did  not  necessarily  follow  that  she  wanted  to  sell 
her  honour  for  money,  and  certainly  was  no  justifi- 
cation for  her  sale  by  a  pander  into  a  disreputable 
house.     One  wrong  step  and  she  was  no  longer 


Need  of  New  Laws  147 

chaste,  and  then,  according  to  the  law,  she  must 
shift  for  herself,  because  the  law  did  not  protect  a 
girl  who  had  made  even  one  mistake,  and  the 
pander,  who  had  taken  advantage  of  this  mistake 
and  sold  her  into  vice  slavery,  could  not  be  prose- 
cuted. 

This  was  the  main  weapon  used  by  the  slave 
owners,  who  sought  to  have  their  agents  blacken 
the  character  of  the  girls  before  they  entered  im- 
moral houses  so  that  they  would  not  be  of  chaste 
life  when  they  came  into  their  dens  and  they  could 
therefore  evade  the  law.  This  was  the  reason,  too, 
that  the  panders  had  "  bachelor  apartments  "  and 
flats  to  which  they  took  the  girls  before  selling 
them  into  immoral  lives. 

In  order  to  prosecute  the  panders  it  was  neces- 
sary that  the  words,  "previous  chaste  life,"  be 
erased  from  the  law,  and  all  female  persons,  mar- 
ried or  unmarried,  whether  under  eighteen  or  over 
eighteen,  could  be  protected  from  the  slave  traders. 

Without  the  backing  of  the  public,  we  were  con- 
vinced that  new  laws  could  not  be  enacted.  Public 
opinion  had  to  be  aroused  if  we  expected  severe 
penalties  to  be  imposed  or  hoped  to  have  more 
stringent  laws  passed.  It  seemed  a  farce  to  fine  a 
pander  a  hundred  or  so  dollars  for  the  crime  of 
selling  the  body  of  a  human  being  to  be  tormented 
by  sin  and  tortured  by  disease.  And  a  fine,  in 
most  instances  up  to  this  time,  had  been  the 
penalty  imposed. 

Beginning  the  year  1908  an  investigation,  headed 


148      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

by  Dean  W.  T.  Sumner,  of  the  Cathedral  SS.  Peter 
and  Paul,  was  made  of  the  conditions  in  the  "West 
Side  levee  district.  There  it  was  found  that  the 
panders  had  been  exceedingly  busy  for  some  two 
years  in  the  crowded  Jewish  district,  which 
bordered  on  this  levee,  and  that  in  that  time  the 
character  of  the  West  Side  levee  had  undergone  a 
great  change.  Heretofore  there  had  been  very  few 
Jewesses  in  the  immoral  resorts  of  Chicago. 

Such  eminent  jurists  as  Judge  Julian  W.  Mack, 
Judge  Philip  Stein  and  Honourable  Adolph  Kraus, 
who  had  interested  themselves  in  this  matter  espe- 
cially because  it  had  been  charged  that  the  men  en- 
gaged in  the  business  of  supplying  the  West  Side 
levee  district  with  new  girls  were  chiefly  young 
Jews,  joined  in  the  view  that  the  law  must  be 
changed. 

"  The  only  way  to  reach  them  (the  panders)," 
said  Judge  Mack,  "is  to  make  their  business  a 
crime.  The  vagrancy  law  will  not  touch  them. 
This  is  an  evil  which  must  be  stamped  out  at  once." 

A  public  campaign  to  get  people  aroused  to  the 
situation  was  decided  upon,  and  to  this  end  I  first 
turned  to  the  churches  for  aid.  Through  the  ef- 
forts of  the  Keverend  M.  P.  Boynton,  of  the  Wood- 
lawn  Baptist  Church,  and  the  Keverend  Ernest  A. 
Bell,  a  convention  of  ministers  from  all  parts  of  the 
state  of  Illinois  was  arranged.  Careful  prepara- 
tions were  made  for  almost  a  month  to  make  this 
meeting  a  success.  Ministers,  heads  of  churches  of 
all  faiths  and  creeds,  were  invited  to  be  present. 


Need  of  New  Laws  149 

February  tenth,  in  the  auditorium  of  the  Central 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  over  five  hun- 
dred ministers  were  gathered.  At  this  time  I  en- 
tertained the  conviction  that  I  must  impress  these 
good  men  with  their  responsibility  for  what  Whit- 
tier  calls  the  "  deeds  which  well  might  shame  ex- 
tremest  hell."  I  heaped  upon  the  clergy  on  this 
occasion  the  charge  that  a  traffic  in  women  existed 
because  of  their  idleness  and  apparent  lack  of  in- 
terest. Confessions  were  read  to  them  and  specific 
instances  were  cited  to  illustrate  how  secretly  and 
smoothly  the  traffic  was  carried  on. 

The  startled  ministers  took  their  curtain  lecture 
good-naturedly  and  when  I  asked  all  those  to  stand 
who  would  speak  out  boldly  upon  this  subject  to 
their  congregations,  nearly  every  person  present 
stood  up,  and  I  then  felt  assured  that  this  was  the 
beginning  of  the  great  campaign  to  bring  the  girl 
slave  traffic  to  the  public  notice. 

A  resolution  was  adopted  at  this  meeting  to  form 
an  organization  for  the  purpose  of  combating  the 
girl  slave  traders.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the 
same  day  this  new  organization,  known  as  the 
Illinois  Vigilance  Association,  came  into  being  as 
the  result  of  this  resolution. 

The  chaii-raan  of  the  National  Vigilance  Com- 
mittee, Dr.  O.  Edward  Janney,  was  present  when 
the  new  organization  was  formed. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  Illinois  Vigilance 
Association,  held  soon  after  this,  a  motion  was 
nade  to  appoint  a  legislative  committee.     After 


150      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

this  motion  was  carried,  I  suggested  the  name  of 
Mr.  Robert  Catherwood  as  chairman  of  this  com- 
mittee. He  was  made  chairman  and  Mr.  Daniel 
Trude  and  I  composed  the  other  members. 

It  was  Imown  at  this  time  that  a  bill,  called  the 
Juul  Bill,  designed  for  the  purpose  of  punishing 
persons  who  place  girls  and  women  in  disorderly 
resorts  or  use  their  influence  to  keep  them  there, 
had  been  presented  to  the  legislature  at  Spring- 
field. Even  the  people  who  had  been  instrumental 
in  drafting  this  bill,  however,  were  using  their 
influence  to  have  it  side-tracked,  because  they 
realized  that  the  law,  as  it  had  been  amended, 
would  be  far  worse  than  the  old  law  then  upon  the 
statute  books.  It  was  for  this  reason  that  the 
Illinois  Vigilance  Association  deemed  it  expedient 
at  its  first  meeting  to  organize  a  legislative  com- 
mittee. 

Action  had  to  be  taken  quickly,  as  the  "  white 
slave "  bill  had  been  presented  at  the  regular 
session  of  the  legislature,  which  had  then  adjourned, 
and  it  was  known  that  a  special  session  of  the 
legislature  was  to  be  called  some  time  during  the 
month  of  May.  The  legislative  committee  thus 
appointed  by  the  Illinois  Vigilance  Association  was 
expected  to  have  its  bill  drafted  in  order  that  it 
might  be  considered  at  this  sj^iecial  session. 

The  committee  met  a  few  days  later  and  formu- 
lated plans  for  a  campaign  to  secure  new  laws  upon 
the  subject.  At  this  time  it  was  decided  to  send 
out  notices  to  all  the  large  clubs  and  associations, 


Need  of  New  Laws  t^l 

which  might  be  interested  in  this  subject,  request- 
ing them  to  appoint  committees  of  from  one  to 
three  members  to  represent  their  respective  clubs 
upon  a  "  joint  club  committee  for  the  suppression 
of  the  white  slave  traffic." 

The  following  responded  to  our  invitation : 
The  Union  League  Club,  The  Hamilton  Club,  City 
Club,  L^oquois  Club,  Jefferson  Club,  Press  Club, 
Quadi^angle  Club,  B'nai  B'rith,  Chicago  Law  and 
Order  League,  Citizen's  Association  and  the  Illinois 
Vigilance  Association. 

At  the  first  meeting  of  the  joint  club  conmiittee 
a  subcommittee  was  appointed  to  draft  a  law  to 
be  submitted  for  discussion  at  a  later  meeting. 

Prof.  Ernst  Freund  of  the  University  of  Chicago, 
who  represented  the  Quadrangle  Club  on  the  joint 
club  committee,  and  Mr.  Catherwood  joined  me 
in  the  preparation  of  the  new  law.  The  committee 
suggested  a  bill  providing  for  punishment  by  im- 
prisonment in  the  penitentiary  for  a  period  of  not 
less  than  one  nor  more  than  ten  years. 

When  the  joint  club  committee  met  to  discuss 
this  proposed  law,  the  committee  representing  the 
B'nai  B'rith,  who  were  not  present  at  the  first 
meeting  of  the  joint  club  committee,  informed  us 
that  they  were  responsible  for  the  original  of  the 
Juul  Bill,  which  Judge  Mack  had  caused  to  be 
drawn  up. 

It  Avas  learned  that  this  bill  had  passed  through 
the  second  reading  of  the  House  of  Kepresentatives 
and  had  been  referi'ed  to  the  Judiciary  Committee. 


152      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Mr.  Adolf  Kraus  explained  the  provisions  of  the 
Jiml  Bill,  which  he  said  could  be  called  up  for  the 
third  reading  in  the  House,  and  while  admitting 
some  defects  he  urged  its  adoption  until  further 
legislation  might  be  secured. 

As  the  bill  as  presented  had  the  good  will  and 
endorsement  of  Honourable  Edward  D.  Shurtleff, 
Speaker  of  the  House,  it  was  decided  by  the  joint 
committee  to  use  this  bill  as  a  foundation  for  a  new- 
law,  eliminating  the  objectionable  amendments, 
which  had  been  appended,  reviving  the  original 
bill,  with  slight  changes,  and  broadening  its  title. 
The  committee  recognized  the  defects  of  the  bill, 
but  on  the  principle  that  half  a  loaf  is  better  than 
no  bread,  they  decided  to  aid  in  its  passage  until 
they  could  present  a  substitute  bill  to  the  legisla- 
ture the  following  year. 

The  question  of  the  penalty  to  be  included  in  the 
bill  was  discussed  thoroughly  by  the  joint  com- 
mittee. There  were  arguments  in  favour  of  the 
first  conviction  carrying  with  it  a  penitentiary 
sentence.  Other  members  of  the  committee 
favoured  a  lighter  sentence  upon  first  conviction 
because  they  believed  that  sentences  would  be 
more  readily  obtained.  It  was  also  brought  out 
that  if  the  lighter  sentence  was  imposed  upon  a 
first  conviction  the  Municipal  Courts  would  have 
final  jurisdiction  and  a  speedy  trial  would  thereby 
be  guaranteed,  inasmuch  as  it  would  not  be  neces- 
sary to  go  before  the  grand  jury,  which  met  only 
at  certain    intervals,   and    obtain    an    indictment 


Need  of  New  Laws  153 

before  the  case  could  be  tried.  In  the  Municipal 
Court  the  case  could  be  tried  upon  an  information, 
either  by  the  State's  Attorney  or  any  citizen,  filed 
in  the  court.  After  a  lengthy  discussion  the  joint 
club  committee  decided  to  recommend  the  lighter 
sentence  upon  first  conviction. 

It  was  then  decided  to  send  a  committee,  com- 
posed of  Messrs.  Adolf  Kraus,  Kobert  Catherwood, 
Philip  Stein,  Benjamin  J.  Samuels,  and  the  Kev- 
erend  William  A.  Waterman  and  the  writer  to 
Springfield  to  be  present  at  the  meeting  of  the 
special  session. 

Mr.  Catherwood,  who  had  been  made  secretary 
of  the  joint  club  committee,  was  appointed  to 
prepare  press  notices  and  to  enlist  the  aid  of  the 
newspapers  in  the  passage  of  the  bill.  That  night 
the  committee  left  for  Springfield  and  the  next 
morning  every  Chicago  paper  appeared  with 
strong  editorials  and  articles  supporting  the  bill. 

The  bill  passed  the  House  unanimously,  one 
hundred  and  two  members  voting.  May  fifth,  and 
the  Senate  sent  it  to  the  Governor  by  concurring 
in  the  amendments,  and  thus  Illinois  became  the 
pioneer  state  to  pass  a  pandering  law,  directed  at 
the  slave  trafiic  in  girls  and  women.  The  law 
became  effective  on  July  first. 

Elated  by  the  success  which  attended  the  passage 
of  this  bill,  the  joint  club  committee  met  and  per- 
fected a  permanent  organization. 

Under  the  new  law  a  great  many  of  the  panders 
refused  to  be  tried  by  the  judges  and  called  for 


154      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

jury  trials  and  the  cases  were  sent  to  the  criminal 
court  building.  To  follow  up  and  try  the  jury  cases 
I  went  to  the  criminal  court,  and  the  Honourable 
James  P.  Harrold,  who  had  been  prosecuting  for  the 
state  at  the  East  Chicago  Avenue  Municipal  Court, 
was  assigned  by  the  Honourable  John  J,  Healy, 
the  State's  Attorney,  to  the  place  I  had  left  at  the 
Harrison  Street  Court,  inasmuch  as  he  had  prose- 
cuted several  panders  and  was  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  work. 

About  the  first  of  December  the  Honourable  John 
E.  W.  Wayman  became  State's  Attorney  and  under 
him  I  continued  my  activity  against  the  girl  slave 
procurers  in  the  courts. 

Before  the  next  session  of  the  legislature  it  was 
decided  by  the  joint  club  committee  that  the  bill, 
which  Prof.  Ernst  Freund,  Mr.  Catherwood  and  I 
had  drawn,  should  be  appended  to  the  act  then  in 
force,  though  not  adopting  the  penitentiary  sen- 
tence. As  a  supplement  the  Honourable  Harry  A. 
Parkin,  of  the  United  States  District  Attorney's 
office,  had  drawn  up  an  act  to  prevent  keep- 
ing girls  in  immoral  houses  under  the  "  debt 
system." 

Mr.  Henry  P.  Heizer,  who  had  been  made  a 
member  of  the  joint  club  committee,  and  the  writer 
were  a^Dpointed  to  go  to  Springfield  to  assist  in  the 
passage  of  these  laws,  which  were  introduced  by  the 
Honourable  Charles  Lederer,  a  member  of  the  House 
of  Eepresentatives.  We  went  before  the  Judiciary 
Committee,  and  the  laws  were  reported  out  to  the 


Need  of  New  Laws  155 

House  favourably.     They  were  passed  by  the  leg- 
islature, and  went  into  effect  July  1,  1909. 

The  Illinois  pandering  law  now  reads  as  follows : 
(1)  "  Any  person  who  shall  procure  a  female 
inmate  for  a  house  of  prostitution  or  who,  by 
promises,  threats,  violence,  or  by  any  device  or 
scheme,  shall  cause,  induce,  persuade  or  encourage 
a  female  person  to  become  an  inmate  of  a  house  of 
prostitution,  or  shall  procure  a  place  as  inmate  in  a 
house  of  prostitution  for  a  female  person,  or  any 
person  who  shall,  by  promises,  threats,  violence,  or 
by  any  device  or  scheme,  cause,  induce,  persuade  or 
encourage  an  inmate  of  a  house  of  prostitution  to 
remain  therein  as  such  inmate,  or  any  person  who 
shall  by  fraud  or  artifice,  or  by  duress  of  person  or 
goods,  or  by  abuse  of  any  position  of  confidence  or 
authority,  procure  any  female  person  to  become  an 
inmate  of  a  house  of  ill  fame,  or  to  enter  any  place 
in  which  prostitution  is  encouraged  or  allowed 
within  this  state,  or  to  come  into  this  state  or  to 
leave  this  state  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution,  or 
Avho  shall  procure  any  female  person  who  has  not 
previously  practiced  prostitution  to  become  an  in- 
mate of  a  house  of  ill  fame  within  this  state,  or  to 
come  into  this  state  or  to  leave  this  state  for  the 
purpose  of  prostitution,  or  who  shall  receive  or  give, 
or  agree  to  receive  or  give,  any  money  or  thing  of 
value  for  procuring,  or  attempting  to  procure  any 
female  person  to  become  an  inmate  of  a  house  of 
ill  fame  within  this  state,  or  to  come  into  this  state, 
or  to  leave  this  state  for  the  purpose  of  prostitution, 


156      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

shall  be  guilty  of  pandering,  and  upon  a  first  con- 
viction for  an  offense  under  this  act  shall  be  pun- 
ished by  imprisonment  in  the  county  jail  or  house 
of  correction  for  a  period  of  not  less  than  six  months 
nor  more  than  one  year  and  by  a  fine  of  not  less 
than  three  hundred  dollars  and  not  to  exceed  one 
thousand  dollars,  and  for  conviction  for  any  subse- 
quent offense  under  this  act  shall  be  punished  by 
imprisonment  in  the  penitentiary  for  a  period 
of  not  less  than  one  year  nor  more  than  ten 
years. 

(2)  "  It  shall  not  be  a  defense  to  a  prosecution  for 
any  of  the  acts  prohibited  in  the  foregoing  section 
that  any  part  of  such  act  or  acts  shall  have  been 
committed  outside  this  state,  and  the  offense  shall 
in  such  case  be  deemed  and  alleged  to  have  been 
committed  and  the  offender  tried  and  punished  in 
any  county  in  which  the  prostitution  was  intended 
to  be  practiced  or  in  which  the  offense  was  consum- 
mated, or  any  overt  act  in  furtherance  of  the  offense 
shall  have  been  committed. 

(3)  "  Any  such  female  person  referred  to  in  the 
foregoing  section  shall  be  a  competent  witness  in 
any  prosecution  under  this  act  to  testify  for  or 
against  the  accused  as  to  any  transaction  or  as  to 
any  conversation  with  the  accused  or  by  him  with 
another  person  or  persons  in  her  presence,  notwith- 
standing her  having  married  the  accused  before  or 
after  the  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this 
act,  whether  called  as  a  witness  during  the  exist 
ence  of  the  marrkge  or  after  its  dissolution. 


Need  of  New  Laws  157 

(4)  "  The  act  or  state  of  marriage  shall  not  be 
a  defense  to  any  violation  of  this  act." 

The  law  relating  to  the  retention  by  debt  01 
otherwise  of  females  in  houses  of  prostitution  is  aa 
follows : 

"  Whoever  shall  by  any  means  keep,  hold  or  de^ 
tain  against  her  will  or  restrain,  any  female  per- 
son in  a  house  of  prostitution  or  other  place  where 
prostitution  is  practiced   or  allowed,  or  whoever 
shall,  directly  or  indu-ectly,  keep,  hold,  detain  oj 
restrain,  or  attempt  to  keep,  hold,  detain  or  restrain, 
in  any  house  of  prostitution  or  other  place  where 
prostitution  is  practiced   or  allowed,  any  female 
person,  by  any  means,  for  the  purpose  of  compel- 
ling  such  female  persons  directly  or  indirectly,  to 
pay,  liquidate,  or  cancel  any  debt,  dues  or  obliga- 
tions incurred  or  said  to  have  been  incurred  by  such 
female  persons  shall,  upon  conviction,  for  the  first 
offense   under   this  act  be  punished  by  imprison- 
ment  in  the  county  jail  or  house  of  correction  for 
a  period  of  not  less  than  six  months  nor  more  than 
one  year,  and  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  three  hun- 
dred dollars  and  not  to  exceed  one  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  upon   a    conviction   for  any  subsequent 
offense  under  this  act  shall  be  punished  by  impris- 
onment in  the  penitentiary  for  a  period  of  not  less 
than  one  year  nor  more  than  five  years." 


XII 

THE  VALUE  OF  PUBLICITY 

A  COMPLETE  plan  of  publicity  and  educa- 
tion  was  mapped  out  and  for  months  ad- 
dresses were  made  throughout  the  country 
with  this  idea  in  view.  For  a  long  time  I  was  con- 
vinced that  the  publication  of  cases  and  facts  con- 
cerning the  panders,  instead  of  corrupting  the 
morals  of  young  people,  would  rather  put  them  on 
their  guard,  and  that  when  the  girls  of  the  land 
knew  of  the  secret  methods  of  the  procurers  they 
could  not  be  so  easily  entrapped. 

It  was  to  this  end  that  the  convention  of  minis- 
ters was  held,  and  the  formation  of  the  Illinois 
Vigilance  Association  was  advised. 

The  newspapers  were  exceedingly  generous  and 
gave  full  space  to  pandering  cases,  to  the  things  ac- 
complished by  the  joint  club  committee,  and  all 
those  actively  engaged  in  combating  the  slave  evil, 
and  many  editorials  were  ^vritten  to  arouse  the 
public. 

After  the  meeting  of  the  ministers  the  subject 
was  more  publicly  discussed  than  formerly. 

There  would  have  been  little  ground,  however,  for 
the  continuation  of  the  publications  and  the  discus- 
sion of  such  matters  if  no  results  had  been  obtained, 
158 


The  Value  of  Publicity  159 

aside  from  the  publications  and  discussion.  How 
many  girls  read  the  articles,  notices  of  cases  and 
editorials,  or  who  heard  sermons  which  the  ministers 
had  preached,  and  had  been  warned  of  the  pitfalls 
which  the  panders  prepared  for  unsuspecting  girls, 
could  never  be  known.  Perhaps  we  might  have 
been  discouraged  in  this  effort  to  make  it  less  easy 
for  panders  to  entrap  girls  into  lives  of  vice  had  we 
not  seen,  occasionally  at  least,  specific  instances  of 
the  good  results. 

The  large  stores  were  infested  with  both  men  and 
women  ever  on  the  lookout  for  girl  victims.  These 
panders  would  sit  around  in  the  waiting  or  rest 
rooms  of  the  stores,  as  did  George  Morton,  who 
was  arrested  in  the  rest  room  of  a  State  Street  de- 
partment store  in  May  of  1908,  while  engaged  in 
conversation  with  a  well-dressed  young  girl  about 
seventeen  years  old.  The  girl  said  that  she  had 
been  shopping,  and  while  going  into  the  rest  room, 
she  was  addressed  by  the  young  man,  who  had 
never  known  her  before.  He  was  suspected  by  the 
girl,  who  had  read  about  the  panders,  of  being  con- 
nected with  the  traflflc,  and  she  had  him  arrested  as 
he  was  leaving  the  store  in  her  company. 

The  value  of  publicity  was  also  clearly  shown 
when  a  young  man  was  caught  in  the  act  of  at- 
tempting to  procure  a  girl.  Scarcely  had  he  paid 
the  penalty  in  one  case  than  he  was  caught  again 
plying  his  trade  in  girls.     Eaymond  Kessler,  fined 

upon  the  complaint  of  Mary  K ,  a  pretty  choir 

singer,  a  short  time  later  was  sentenced  to  serve  two 


i6o      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

months  in  the  honse  of  correction  for  making  an  as- 
sault on  Louise  S ,  who  said  Kessler  had  sold 

her  into  a  house  on  Armour  Avenue. 

Mary  K told  Judge  Crowe,  who  tried  the 

case,  of  her  experiences,  thus : 

"  I  had  never  seen  the  man  before.  I  went  to  a 
music  store  to  buy  a  song  I  needed.  While  I  was 
buying  the  music  the  young  woman  waiting  on  me 
called  my  attention  to  a  young  man  who  was  try- 
ing to  flirt  with  me. 

'"I  don't  know  this  man,'  I  said ; ' he  must  mis- 
take me  for  some  one  else.' 

"  When  I  left  the  store  the  man  followed  me  and 
as  I  reached  the  street  he  took  hold  of  my  arm. 

"  '  Hello,  kid ! '  he  said ;  '  it's  a  long  time  since  I 
met  you.' 

"  '  You  are  mistaken,'  I  replied ;  '  you  do  not 
know  me.' 

"  '  Oh,  yes,  I  do,'  he  insisted.  *  I  used  to  know 
you  at  S3a'acuse.  What  are  you  doing  for  a  living 
now  ?' 

"  I  never  had  been  in  Syracuse,  so  I  knew  he 
must  have  some  wrong  purpose  in  talking  to  me, 
but  I  told  him  I  was  singing  sacred  music  in 
churches. 

"  '  How  much  do  you  get  ? '  he  asked  me. 

"  I  told  him  I  averaged  about  twenty  dollars  a 
week. 

"  '  Why,'  he  said,  '  you  can  beat  that  to  death. 
I'll  show  you  how  to  make  fifty  dollars  a  week  and 
not  half  try.' 


The  Value  of  Publicity  161 

"  As  I  walked  down  the  street  he  kept  talking  to 
me.  I  asked  him  where  he  wanted  me  to  go,  and 
he  said,  '  Oh !  I'll  get  you  a  position  singing  out 
on  the  South  Side.' 

"  I  didn't  say  anything  more  because  I  felt  sure 
from  the  accounts  I  had  read  in  the  papers  that  he 
was  a  white  slave  procurer.  Several  times  I  tried 
to  get  away  from  the  man,  but  he  kept  hold  of  my 
arm  so  tight  that  I  could  not.  When  we  reached 
Van  Buren  Street,  as  we  passed  a  policeman  on  the 
crossing,  I  gave  him  a  poke  with  my  hand,  and  as 
he  turned  quickly  around  I  said,  '  I  want  you  to  ar- 
rest this  man.' " 

Policeman  Freeman  placed  the  man  under  arrest 
and  when  he  was  brought  to  the  police  station  he 
gave  the  name  of  Raymond  Kessler  and  said  he 
was  twenty-four  years  old.  At  the  conclusion  of 
the  case  Kessler  was  fined  two  hundred  dollars  by 
the  court. 

It  was  only  a  month  or  so  afterwards,  when  Louise 

S told  Judge  Kewcomer  of  the  Municipal  Court 

of  how  she  was  attacked  and  beaten  by  Kessler  for 
trying  to  get  out  of  a  disreputable  house,  where  she 
said  he  had  placed  her  and  was  collecting  her  earn- 
ings. Kessler  was  the  renegade  son  of  a  good 
father,  who  had  tried  in  every  way  to  reform  his 
boy  and  keep  him  at  home.  In  the  first  case  his 
father  paid  the  fine,  but  in  this  case  no  fine  could 
be  paid. 

"Your  father  is  a  very  good  man.  You  are 
nothing  but  a  two  cent  bum,  and  I  do  not  believe 


i62      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

you  will  ever  amount  to  anything,"  said  the  judge 
as  he  sentenced  the  young  man.  "  It  grieves  me  a 
great  deal  to  see  you  here,  for  your  father  has  done 
everything  for  you.  This  is  the  last  time  you  will 
ever  receive  clemency  in  a  Chicago  court.  If  you 
are  arraigned  again  before  me  you  will  get  the 
severest  punishment  I  can  give." 

The  campaign  for  publicity  was  beginning  to  bear 
fruit.  Although  large  numbers  of  girls  were  being 
procured,  the  conviction  that  publicity  would  prove 
one  of  the  most  efficient  means  of  solving  the  slave 
problem  was  confirmed. 

In  another  case  two  traffickers,  who  had  been 
frequenting  the  stores  in  an  effort  to  secure 
victims,  were  arrested  after  they  had  attempted 
to  lure  into  slavery  a  sixteen-year-old  girl  who  was 
employed  in  a  five  and  ten  cent  store.     According 

to  this  girl,  who  gave  her  name  as  Ida  M ,  a 

man  and  woman  came  to  the  part  of  the  store 
where  she  was  employed  several  times  and  engaged 
her  in  conversation,  telling  her  that  they  were  able 
to  secure  a  better  position  for  her. 

"  You  are  very  foolish  in  remaining  here,"  the 
woman  is  said  to  have  remarked.  "  Eobert  is  able 
to  land  you  in  a  good  place  with  lots  more  money. 
The  position  is  pleasant,  and  you  will  have  much 
time  for  yourself." 

Although  Ida  told  them  that  she  did  not 
wish  to  change  her  position,  the  man  especially 
called  repeatedly.  Despite  her  protests  at  the 
frequent  calls,  the  man  persisted  in  talking  with 


The  Value  of  Publicity  163 

her,  and  the  gii'l,  having  read  in  the  papers 
about  the  slave  traffickers,  became  suspicious  of  this 
undue  attention,  consequently  she  went  to  the 
detective  headquarters  and  told  her  experiences  to 
Lieutenant  Eohan. 

Detectives  Flaherty  and  Nagle,  who  had  been 
assigned  to  look  out  for  slave  traders  operating  in 
stores,  went  to  work  upon  the  case.  After  talk- 
ing the  matter  over  with  Ida,  the  detectives 
advised  her  to  accompany  either  the  man  or  the 
woman  when  they  appeared  again,  and  they  told  the 
giii  not  to  be  afraid  as  they  would  be  near  by,  and 
then  Flaherty  and  Nagle  waited  around  the  store 
for  the  reappearance  of  these  two  people. 

A  day  or  so  later  the  man  came  to  the  store 
again  and  sought  out  the  girl.  This  time  she 
told  him  she  would  step  outside  the  store  and  talk 
with  him.  The  detectives  were  watching  and 
followed  the  girl  and  the  man  to  the  street.  The 
man  hurriedly  walked  the  girl  about  the  do^vn- 
town  streets  until  he  had  succeeded  in  getting  her 
outside  the  crowded  shopping  district,  and  finally, 
when  he  got  her  several  blocks  away  from  where 
she  was  employed,  he  suddenly  rushed  her  across 
the  street  into  a  hotel  of  an  inferior  class.  The 
detectives  had  kept  close  behind  them  and  an  in- 
stant later  a  door  leading  to  one  of  the  rooms  was 
slammed  and  the  startled  girl  was  told  that  "  Mrs. 
Crisman  would  be  in  in  a  minute." 

The  detectives  pounded  on  the  door  and  de- 
manded admittance,  fearing  that  some  harm  might 


164      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

come  to  the  girl  before  she  could  be  rescued. 
Later  the  woman,  who  said  she  was  the  man's 
wife,  entered  the  room  and  both  the  man  and  the 
woman  were  arrested  and  taken  to  the  Harrison 
Street  Police  Station. 

The  man  gave  his  name  as  Kobert  Crisman,  and 
the  woman  said  that  her  name  was  Thelma  Cris- 
man. Both  of  them  denied  that  they  intended 
placing  the  girl  in  an  immoral  resort  and  asserted 
that  they  intended  getting  her  a  position  in  one  of 
the  big  stores.  When  asked  in  which  store  they 
intended  getting  a  position  for  her,  or  by  what 
authority  they  were  employing  help  for  stores, 
neither  of  them  ventured  a  reply. 

"I  doubted  these  people  from  the  first,"  Ida 
told  the  police,  "but  it  was  not  until  they 
pestered  me  beyond  endurance  that  I  reported  the 
matter.  I  believe  that  they  are  not  new  at  the 
game  they  thought  of  playing  with  me,  and  I  am 
glad  they  were  arrested." 

The  police  said  that  Crisman  and  his  wife  an- 
swered the  description  of  a  couple  who  had  been 
frequenting  department  stores  for  several  weeks,  at- 
tempting to  induce  young  women  to  leave  for 
"  more  lucrative  positions."  Complaint  had  been 
made  by  managers  of  various  stores,  and  efforts 
had  been  made  to  arrest  these  two  people.  Special 
details  of  detectives  had  even  been  ordered  to 
roam  about  the  stores  in  the  hope  of  catching 
them. 

One  afternoon  after  court  had  adjourned,  I  was 


The  Value  of  Publicity  165 

busy  in  my  office  looking  through  a  stack  of  legal 
papers.  I  heard  some  one  behind  me  speak  in  low 
tones.  Turning  around  I  saw  a  flashily  dressed 
woman  standing  in  the  doorway.  She  looked  like 
a  person  of  the  underworld.  A  large  white  hat, 
almost  covered  by  one  huge  feather  which  hung 
down  to  her  shoulder,  crowned  the  fluffy  blond 
head.  Her  face  was  round  and  full  and  her  com- 
plexion had  a  pale,  chinaware-like  appearance. 
The  big  brown  eyes  glistened  and  the  eyebrows 
w^ere  carefully  pencilled. 

She  seemed  timid  and  afraid  to  come  into  the 
office. 

"  Is  this  the  State's  Attorney  ?  "  she  repeated  in 
the  same  low  tone. 

"  Yes,  I  am  one  of  them,"  I  told  her.  "  Won't 
you  come  in  and  have  a  chair  ?  " 

As  I  said  this  I  started  to  rise,  but  she  held  out 
her  hand,  motioning  me  back  in  the  chair,  and  said  : 

"  Oh,  please  do  not  mind  me,  I  am  only  a  sport- 
ing girl.  I  slipped  down  here  to  tell  you  a  secret. 
I  wouldn't  for  the  world  have  any  one  out  there 
know  that  I  came  down  to  see  you  for  they  would 
make  it  very  unpleasant  for  me. 

"  Some  time  ago  I  read  about  girls  being  rescued 
from  houses  where  they  have  been  sold.  Now,  I 
can't  reform.  I  have  tried ;  it  is  no  use  and  it  is 
too  late,  but  I  want  to  help  others  all  I  dare  to. 
There  is  a  girl  out  in  the  house  where  I  stay,  who 
cries  constantly  and  wants  to  get  away.  She  has 
touched  my  heart  and  I  remembered  your  name 


l66      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

from  the  papers  and  decided  to  come  down  and  tell 
you  about  her." 

She  then  told  me  the  name  of  the  girl  and  where 
she  could  be  found.  As  the  woman  was  leaving  1 
said  to  her : 

"  "Why  can't  you  reform  ?  " 

"  Oh,"  she  said  with  a  sigh,  "  I  tried  it  once.  I 
too  was  sold  into  a  house.  I  left  a  good  home  in  a 
small  town  to  come  to  the  city  just  to  see  the 
sights.  I  fell  in  love  with  the  gay  crowds  in  the 
restaurants,  all  laughing  and  talking,  and  it  was  all 
new  to  me.  I  went  often  to  the  theatres  and  just 
couldn't  leave  the  rush  and  bustle  of  the  city.  So 
after  being  here  a  while  I  decided  to  stay  and  went 
to  work  in  a  store. 

"  One  night  a  young  man,  whom  I  had  met  in 
the  store,  invited  me  out  to  dine.  We  went  out 
afterwards,  what  he  called  'hopping.'  We  went 
from  concert  halls  to  cafes,  in  saloons  and  then  to 
sporting  houses,  just  to  see  what  they  were  like. 
I  became  intoxicated  and  he  left  me  in  one  of  them. 
I  didn't  realize  it  though  at  the  time,  for  they  kept 
me  drunk  for  over  a  w^eek. 

"  When  I  really  came  to  my  right  senses,  I  found 
he  had  sold  me  to  the  place.  I  was  in  debt  and 
had  to  stay.  Several  months  later  I  got  away  and 
a  man  whom  I  knew  secured  employment  for  me 
in  a  store.  Only  a  few  days  after  I  went  to  work 
a  hypocrite  of  a  man  came  in  the  store  and  recog- 
nized me  from  having  seen  me  in  the  house  out 
there.     He  told  the  floor-wall^er  that  I  had  been  a 


The  Value  of  Publicity  167 

sporting  woman  and  that  it  would  hurt  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  store  to  have  me  around.  I  was  dis- 
charged. From  one  thing  to  another  I  finally 
drifted  back.  "When  one  has  once  been  down,  it  is 
hard  to  get  up  again,  for  even  the  men  who  helped 
keep  you  there,  by  spending  their  money  in  such 
places,  help  kick  you  down  if  you  do  try  to  get  up 
and  try  to  live  right. 

"  So  I  gave  up  trying,  and  there  I  am  still.  But 
you  help  that  little  girl  out  there,  for  she  has  not 
been  in  the  place  long  enough  but  that  she  can  re- 
form, and  please  never  let  any  one  know  that  it 
was  me  that  told  you  about  her." 

After  she  had  left,  as  was  my  custom,  I  made  a 
memorandum  of  what  she  had  told  me.  Then  I 
called  a  detective,  whose  services  had  been  loaned 
me  by  one  of  the  reform  associations  of  the  city, 
and  sent  him  out  to  investigate  the  story. 

He  found  it  true  in  every  detail.  It  required 
some  effort  at  first  to  get  the  little  girl  to  tell  her 
story  to  the  detective,  as  she  feared  he  was  one  of 
the  "  ringers  "  in  the  employ  of  the  house,  who  are 
sent  to  the  various  girls  to  find  out  if  they  are  com- 
plaining or  have  a  desire  to  escape.  After  the  de- 
tective had  gained  the  confidence  of  the  girl,  she 
told  a  heart-rending  story  of  being  confined  against 
her  will,  with  all  the  terrible  details  which  would 
be  expected  under  such  conditions.  She  told  him 
in  confidence  of  the  terrible  beatings  and  horrible 
treatment  that  she  had  been  subjected  to,  and 
begged  to  be  taken  out. 


i68      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

The  detective  lost  no  time  in  getting  a  cab  and 
drove  up  to  the  house,  but  after  he  had  got  the  girl 
in  the  cab  and  ordered  the  driver  to  go  ahead,  the 
owners  of  the  house,  by  threatening  the  "  cabbie," 
succeeded  in  making  a  long  enough  delay  to  enable 
them  to  pull  the  girl  from  the  detective's  grasp, 
taking  her  back  into  the  house  once  more. 

Several  policemen,  who  came  running  up,  be- 
lieved there  was  an  attempted  kidnapping,  and  by 
the  time  the  detective  had  ex]3lained  matters  the 
people  in  the  house  had  gotten  away  with  the  girl 
and  she  could  not  be  found. 

As  a  result  of  making  public  the  facts  about 
white  slavery  and  what  we  were  doing  to  com- 
bat the  traffic,  "  tips  "  and  clues  came  in  from  many 
unexpected  sources. 

An  anonymous  letter  was  received  by  Lieutenant 
Downey,  in  charge  of  the  Cottage  Grove  Avenue 
Station,  and  led  to  the  raid  of  a  resort  on  State 
Street  near  Thirty-first  Street.  The  letter  said 
that  girls  under  age  were  held  in  a  disreputable  re- 
sort. When  the  police  arrived,  two  girls  told  them 
that  they  had  been  enticed  by  Thomas  St.  John 
from  their  employment  in  a  down-town  store  and 

sold  into  a  resort.     The  girls  were  Clara  W , 

twenty  years  old,  and  Estelle  M ,  twenty-two 

years  old. 

Estelle  cried  bitterly  as  she  told  the  story 
of  her  capture  and  downfall  to  Judge  Frank  Crowe, 
of  the  Municipal  Court„ 

"  "We  were  working  down-town  when  St.  John 


The  Value  of  Publicity  169 

met  us  and  told  us  we  could  earn  lots  of  money  if 
we  went  to  work  in  this  place.  He  did  not  tell  us 
the  character  of  the  place.  We  did  not  want  to 
remain  but  our  street  clothes  were  taken  from  us 
and  we  were  forced  to  stay.  St.  John  used  to  visit 
the  place  once  a  week  and  collect  our  money  from 
the  proprietor." 

A  crumpled  letter  was  picked  up  by  a  passer-by 
in  the  red  light  district  and  turned  over  to  one  of 
the  judges.  The  letter  had  evidently  been  thrown 
from  a  window.     It  read  as  follows  : 

"  Dear  Judge  : 

"  I  am  in  a  bad  house  since  March  and  am 
not  yet  sixteen.  My  father  is  dead,  and  mother 
got  married  to  a  man  I  did  not  like,  so  I  ran  away. 
A  girl  said  she  would  put  me  on  the  stage  like  her, 
but  she  left  me  in  a  bad  house.  She  knew  the  lady 
and  went  with  the  show  herself.  I  have  only  a 
small  slip  to  wear  or  I  would  run  away.  I  hope  jj-ou 
can  come  and  get  me — I  can't  write  no  more " 

Here  the  letter  was  broken  oif.  Evidently  she 
heard  some  one  coming  and  threw  it  out  of  the 
window. 

The  judge  despatched  detectives  immediately  to 
the  neighbourhood  in  which  the  letter  had  been 
found.  A  diligent  search  was  made  for  the  girl. 
All  the  houses  in  the  neighbourhood  were  gone 
through  from  cellar  to  garret  and  the  keepers 
closely  questioned,  but  the  detectives  could  find  no 
trace  of  the  enslaved  girl. 

A  signed  letter  was  received  by  the  ^vriter  on 


lyo      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

July  14,  1908,  from  a  girl  who  was  being  held 
captive.    It  follows : 

"  Chicago^  III.,  July  13,  1908. 
"  Dear  Sir  : 

"  Did  you  receive  a  letter  from  my  Mother, 

Mrs from  Eloise  Mich    If  so  I  wish  you 

would  come  and  see  me  so  I  can  tell  you  every- 
thing I  have  not  been  out  of  the  house  for  three 
months  I  have  not  got  any  clothes  to  wear  on  the 
street  because  I  owe  a  debt  I  wish  you  would 
come  and  see  me  and  I  can  tell  you  everything 
then  I  am  a  White  Slave  for  sure"  Please  excuse 
Pencle  I  had  to  write  this  a  sneak  this  out. 
"  Please  see  to  this  at  once 

"  and  oblige 

"  Viola 

" Armour  Avenue, 

"City." 
{The  name  of  the  house.) 

Very  few  girls  were  so  fortunate  as  this  one, 
whose  letter  led  to  her  rescue  and  the  conviction  of 
the  owners  of  the  resort  where  she  was  held.  The 
sad  fact  is  that  the  vast  majority  of  them  go  down 
to  untimely  graves,  as  the  result  of  their  own  hand, 
by  suicide,  as  the  result  of  a  loathsome  disease,  or 
else  they  wallow  in  the  mire  of  a  living  death. 

A  romance  which  ended  disastrously  adds  an- 
other testimonial  to  the  value  of  publicity. 

A  girl  named  Eose  M came  to  Chicago  to 

visit  friends.  "While  on  a  shopping  tour  she  Avent 
into  one  of  the  stores  to  buy  some  music.  She  was 
at  the  counter  looking  over  various  sheets  of  music, 


The  Value  of  Publicity  171 

when  her  attention  was  attracted  by  a  young  man 
who  stood  at  her  side.  He  was  handsome  and  well 
dressed.  Apparently  he  also  was  looking  at  music. 
She  first  noticed  him  when  he  turned  towards  her 
and  asked  the  names  of  some  of  the  latest  popular 
songs,  as  he  wanted  to  buy  them. 

Impelled  by  her  native  instinct,  she  turned  away 
and  did  not  answer  his  inquiry.  He  was  not  to  be 
repulsed,  however,  and  he  pressed  his  attentions 
upon  her  and  continued  to  talk  about  different  pieces 
of  music.  Finally  he  engaged  her  in  conversation  ; 
as  she  stood  there  discussing  with  him  the  best  songs 
to  buy  she  looked  into  his  large,  dark  brown  eyes 
and  he  seemed  to  her  to  be  one  of  the  handsomest 
men  she  had  ever  met. 

It  was  almost  noon  time  and  he  asked  her  if  she 
would  not  take  lunch  with  him  at  a  near-by  restau- 
rant. The  impulse,  which  had  first  seized  her,  to 
avoid  him  disappeared  as  this  chance  acquaintance 
told  her  of  his  interest  in  music.  She  really  became 
infatuated  with  him  and  accepted  the  invitation. 

Soon  they  were  seated  at  a  table  in  a  restaurant. 
In  his  smooth,  oily  way,  he  spun  the  yarn  by  which 
he  hoped  to  entrap  the  girl.  He  told  her  that  her 
beauty  had  captivated  him  and  that  when  they 
were  in  the  store  he  could  not  refrain  from  speak- 
ing to  her.  He  said  that  as  he  talked  with  her  his 
heart  was  completely  won  by  her  sweet  voice  and 
that  he  had  fallen  in  love  with  her  at  first  sight. 
He  told  her  also  that  his  father  was  a  wealthy  com- 
mission merchant  on  South  Water  Street  in  the  city. 


172       Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Rose  had  heard  of  girls  falling  in  love  at  first 
sight.  Why  shouldn't  she  do  it  ?  She  was  con- 
sumed with  a  feeling  of  admiration  and  love.  How 
grand  it  would  be,  she  thought,  to  live  in  a  big 
house  surrounded  with  luxury,  and  to  have  this 
young  man,  who  loved  music  as  she  did,  for  a  life 
companion.  Carried  away  by  this  illusion,  she  was 
soon  within  his  power. 

He  proposed  that  they  get  married  and  she 
agreed  to  it.  As  they  were  leaving  the  restaurant 
he  asked  her  to  go  with  him  and  he  would  show 
her  photographs  of  his  home  and  of  various  people 
he  knew.  She  did  not  think  this  would  be  proper 
unless  they  were  married  ;  so  they  were  soon  on  the 
hunt  for  a  clergyman  to  marry  them.  They  went 
to  a  church  in  Chicago,  where  the  priest  refused  to 
say  the  service  without  the  bishop's  consent.  Later 
they  went  to  the  home  of  another  priest  and  were 
again  refused  ceremony. 

Going  to  Elgin,  Carlo  Menillo,  the  young  man, 
refused  to  allow  the  girl  to  see  her  parents  before 
the  wedding.  They  were  married  by  a  clergyman 
in  Elgin,  who  of  course  did  not  know  the  circum- 
stances, and  then  went  to  the  home  of  the  girl's 
parents  and  told  them  of  the  marriage.  They 
spent  a  day  or  so  in  Elgin,  visiting  the  girl's  parents 
and  friends. 

Upon  their  return  to  Chicago,  instead  of  taking 
Rose  to  his  supposed  home,  he  took  up  a  residence 
with  her  on  Wabash  Avenue.  He  confided  to  her 
that  he  had  had  some  trouble  with  his  people  and 


The  Value  of  Publicity  173 

was  almost  without  funds  and  tliat  he  would  have  to 
raise  money  in  some  way.  It  was  alleged  that  he 
took  charge  of  her  savings  of  twenty-five  dollars 
and  pawned  her  watch.  Before  a  week  had  passed 
they  were  almost  without  money  again.  One  day, 
apparently  thinking  over  the  situation  for  a  few 
minutes,  a  way  out  of  the  difficulty  appeared  to 
hun, — so  he  told  the  girl.  lie  suggested  that  he 
would  take  her  to  a  place,  Avhich  he  had  heard 
about,  where  she  could  easily  make  enough  money  in 
a  few  days  to  tide  them  over  until  he  could  get  work. 

Kot  understanding  the  nature  of  his  intentions, 
she  at  once  became  interested  in  this  new  way  of 
making  money  so  easily.  Then  he  explained  what 
he  intended  doing  with  her  and  where  he  proposed 
to  take  her. 

Slowly  the  realization  dawned  upon  Kose  that 
Carlo  was  intending  to  place  her  in  an  immoral 
house.  She  had  read  the  stories  in  the  newspapers 
of  how  panders  had  caught  other  girls  in  the  same 
way.  Was  her  dream  of  happiness  and  love  to  vanish 
in  a  moment?  Was  all  that  she  had  hoped  for 
to  be  lost  ?  She  knew  that  she  must  think  quickly. 
The  proposal  of  this  man  had  nauseated  her.  She 
vaguely  comprehended  his  purpose,  but  she  knew 
that  he  intended  to  do  some  great  wrong  to  her.  The 
love  of  a  few  minutes  before  was  turned  to  hatred. 

Had  he  been  quick  to  read  impulses  of  women, 
he  would  have  detected  in  her  face  the  flush 
of  anger.  However,  thinking  that  she  was  easy 
prey,  as  she  had  been  led  so  easily  thus  far,  he  did 


174      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

not  notice  that  his  words  had  changed  her  attitude 
towards  him.     She,  too,  could  play  her  part  well. 

Convinced  that  she  was  in  the  clutches  of  a 
white  slave  trader,  and  fearing  lest  she  might 
arouse  in  him  suspicion,  she  pretended  to  fall  in  with 
his  plan  and  consented  to  do  as  he  requested.  She 
then  went  out  with  him  and  he  led  her  into 
the  red  light  district.  His  purpose  was  now  quite 
plain  to  her.  Suddenly  turning  to  him  she  told 
him  that  before  going  to  the  resort  she  would  need 
several  articles  of  clothing  which  she  did  not  have, 
and  arranged  with  him  to  meet  her  after  she  had 
gone  into  the  stores  to  make  these  purchases.  A 
certain  down-town  corner  was  agreed  upon  as  the 
meeting-place  and  then  she  left  him. 

When  out  of  his  sight  she  paused  to  think  over 
what  was  best  to  do.  She  was  confused  and  at  a 
loss  to  know  what  to  do.  Would  it  be  best  to  ex- 
pose him  or  should  she  escape  and  return  home  the 
quickest  way  possible?  She  had  heard  of  the 
county  court  and  of  the  prosecution  of  the  panders, 
and  she  decided  that  this  would  be  the  best  place 
to  go  for  protection. 

She  was  directed  to  Judge  Sheridan  Fry,  then 
one  of  the  assistants  to  the  county  judge,  and 
told  her  pitiful  story.  An  escort  was  given  her 
and  she  was  brought  to  the  court  where  I  was 
prosecuting.  Then  the  story  of  how  she  was  de- 
ceived was  repeated,  and  after  I  had  heard  it,  I 
had  a  warrant  drawn  up  and  despatched  an  officer 
with  the  girl  to  the  appointed  place  of  meeting. 


The  Value  of  Publicity  175 

When  they  neared  the  corner  the  officer  told  the 
girl  that  he  would  follow  a  short  way  behind  her. 
Menillo  was  there  waiting  for  his  wife,  and  as 
Eose  rushed  up  to  him,  apparently  glad  to  see  him, 
her  husband  began  to  upbraid  her  for  being  so  long 
away.  Then  the  officer  stepped  up,  and  the  young 
man  was  soon  in  the  arms  of  the  policeman,  who 
hustled  him  over  to  a  cell. 

The  police  officer  provided  a  place  for  Rose  to 
stay  over  night,  and  the  next  morning,  March 
23,  1908,  the  case  was  called  for  trial  before  Judge 
Crowe.  The  young  man  finally  admitted  that 
the  girl's  story  was  substantially  correct  and  he 
was  found  guilty. 

The  parents  of  the  girl,  who  had  been  notified, 
came  to  Chicago  and  took  her  home  with  them. 
Disappointed  and  heart-broken,  the  girl  went  home, 
much  wiser  for  her  experience,  but  happy  that  she 
was  saved  from  a  life  of  shame.  Last  spring,  I  am 
told,  an  annulment  of  the  marriage  was  secured  in 
the  courts. 

Had  this  girl  not  read  of  white  slave  cases,  she 
might  not  have  been  favoured  by  the  good  fortune 
with  which  she  was  blessed  and  the  outcome  would 
certainly  have  been  more  disastrous.  Rose  knew, 
when  it  was  too  late,  that  it  would  have  been  much 
better  for  her  to  have  heeded  the  warning  which 
the  stories  of  other  girls  had  given  her,  which 
warning,  however,  saved  her  from  the  life  of  a 
white  slave. 


xm 

THE  POLICE  AND  THE  PANDERS 

PEKHAPS  the  most  perplexing  problem  the 
police  have  had  to  solve  has  been  the  so- 
cial evil.  This  is  true  not  only  in  Chicago 
but  also  in  nearly  every  American  city.  To  the 
police  the  question  has  been  an  enigma  because  of 
our  hypocrisy. 

We  are  too  prone  to  place  the  blame  for  every- 
thing that  goes  wrong  in  civic  affairs  upon  the 
shoulders  of  the  police,  when  the  fault  really  rests 
upon  us.  It  is  not  right  for  us  to  censure  the 
police  when  we  create  conditions  which  have  a 
hidden  meaning  to  be  guessed. 

Why  do  we  ask  the  police  to  solve  a  puzzle  which 
we  cannot  satisfactorily  explain  ? 

In  most  of  our  states  there  are  laws  making  it  a 
crime  to  conduct  places  of  ill  repute.  Yet,  custom 
sanctions  their  existence  in  cities  in  nearly  every 
state.  These  laws  are  passed  only  to  blind  or  ap- 
pease the  people.  Most  of  the  laws,  however,  are 
too  weak  to  be  of  any  value. 

Legally,  the  people  say :  "  See  how  good  we  are ; 
we  have  laws  against  the  social  evil ! "  Morally, 
many  citizens  say,  and  many  of  them  stand  high  in 
176 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  177 

the  eyes  of  the  community,  too :  "  These  things 
have  existed  for  centuries  and  will  continue  to  ex- 
ist for  centuries  to  come,  unless  the  standards  of 
men  are  raised."  Some  even  say:  "They  are 
necessary  to  the  safety  of  our  girls  and  women." 

What  a  riddle ! 

Well  might  Dora  Douglas  cry  out  from  behind 
prison  walls :  "  If  it  be  a  crime  worthy  of  the 
prison  to  secure  an  inmate  for  a  vice  resort,  is  it  a 
sure  proof  of  public  and  private  virtue  that  vice 
resorts  cover  square  miles  of  this  city  and  the  city 
government  '  regulates '  them  ?  " 

This  regulation  of  vice  resorts  by  city  authorities 
has  certainly  confused  the  police  and  wTought 
havoc  in  the  careers  of  some.  It  has  opened  an 
avenue  to  graft,  which  some  have  unwittingly  or 
purposely  travelled. 

Citizens  cannot  honestly  reproach  police  for  be- 
coming victims  of  conditions  which  the  citizens 
themselves  either  create  or  tolerate. 

It  is  therefore  with  some  feeling  of  charity  that 
I  recite  facts  concerning  the  relation  of  the  police 
and  the  panders. 

During  March  and  April,  1907,  Judge  Judson 
Going  found  that  a  habit  had  grown  up  among 
some  of  the  police  of  taking  out  Avarrants  for  the 
arrest  of  owners  of  disreputable  places,  that  no  ar- 
rests were  made  upon  these  warrants  and  that  the 
Avarrants  were  never  returned  to  the  court. 

The  judge  had  his  clerk  go  over  the  list,  and  he 
found  that  over  a  hundred  of  these  warrants  on 


178      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

which  no  arrests  had  been  made  had  been  taken  out 
from  his  branch  of  the  court  alone.  The  court 
bailiff  was  ordered  by  the  judge  to  take  the  list 
and  personally  to  summon  the  resort  owners  into 
court. 

It  was  then  ascertained  that  these  resort  owners 
had  never  been  arrested,  although  they  were  well 
known,  but  the  police  had  visited  them  telling  them 
that  they  had  warrants  for  them. 

April  13, 1907,  Detective  Murphy,  of  the  Twenty- 
second  Street  Police  Station,  was  summoned  into 
court  by  Judge  Going  for  an  explanation.  Most  of 
the  warrants  had  been  issued  in  December  by 
various  judges  of  the  Municipal  Court,  and  in  most 
of  them  Detective  Murphy  was  named  as  the  com- 
plaining witness. 

The  defense  was  made  that  "  discretion  "  in  not 
having  the  warrants  served  was  used,  for — the  saloon 
and  dive  keepers  had  reformed  after  being  warned. 
This  statement,  however,  was  refuted  by  the  testi- 
mony of  the  dive  keepers  themselves,  among  them 
Thomas  Ferguson,  who  admitted  on  cross-exami- 
nation that  after  being  warned  in  December  he  still 
permitted  women  to  frequent  his  place. 

Ferguson's  warning  was  testified  to  by  him  in 
this  way : 

"  Were  you  ever  warned  to  keep  women  out  of 
your  house  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir.  He  (Murphy)  told  me  there  was  an 
investigation  going  on  in  the  police  department,  and 
I'd  better  be  careful." 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  179 

Publicity  given  by  the  newspapers  revealed  to 
the  citizens  this  condition  of  affairs,  and  popular 
indignation  compelled  the  chief  of  police  to  promise 
to  remove  every  police  officer  from  the  South 
Side  red  light  district.  There  was  a  great  "  shake 
up  "  in  the  police  force  of  the  district ;  and  while  it 
was  given  out  that  the  entire  force  had  been 
changed  "  for  the  good  of  the  service,"  the  fact  was 
that  only  fifty-six  out  of  a  hundred  and  fourteen 
policemen  in  the  district  were  removed.  In  this 
regard  the  unsuspecting  public  was  deceived  as  it 
had  been  many  times  before. 

Edward  McCann,  who  had  been  made  captain  of 
police,  was  sent  from  Englewood  to  the  red  light 
district ;  and  with  the  arrival  of  a  new  set  of  police- 
men, under  the  command  of  Captain  McCann,  this 
section  of  the  underworld  experienced  some  huge 
surprises.  The  newly  installed  captain,  bent  upon 
making  an  enviable  record,  aided  the  State's  At- 
torney and  the  courts  in  bringing  to  the  sur- 
face the  underground  methods  of  the  white  slave 
traffic. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1907  Captain 
McCann  was  active  in  hunting  down  panders.  It 
seemed,  however,  that  as  winter  came  on  the  cap- 
tain's ardour  gradually  cooled. 

Early  in  January,  1908,  information  was  sent  to 
me  that  two  girls  were  held  in  a  resort  on  Dearborn 

Street.    These  girls,  Frances  C and  Jessie  K , 

both  twenty-one  years  old,  said  that  the  owner  of 
the  resort  refused  to  allow  them  to  leave  the  place 


i8o      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

:r  have  their  clothing,  because  she  alleged  that  they 
owed  her  four  hundred  dollars. 

I  sent  two  sergeants,  who  happened  to  be  in  my 
office,  to  get  these  girls  and  their  clothing.  On 
their  arrival  the  madam  called  up  Captain  McCann. 
The  captain  at  once  called  me  up,  protesting  against 
my  sending  detectives  into  his  district,  promising 
that  the  girls  should  be  at  my  office  the  next  morn- 
ing and  saying  that  he  would  like  to  talk  the  mat- 
ter over  with  me  then. 

The  next  morning,  January  eighth,  they  were  there 
at  the  Harrison  Street  Court.  I  went  into  the  of 
fice  to  see  the  captain  and  he  said  that  the  people  out 
in  his  district  would  all  have  to  go  out  of  business 
if  I  helped  all  the  girls  escape  paying  their  debts, 
and  that  he  didn't  propose  to  have  his  regulations 
in  the  district  interfered  with.  I  asked  him  if  it 
greatly  concerned  him  if  the  disreputable  houses 
did  have  to  go  out  of  business.  I  told  him  that  the 
proprietors  of  these  houses  could  not  intimidate 
girls  and  hold  them  practically  as  slaves  by  hiding 
their  clothing  until  they  paid  debts. 

This  incident  served  to  bring  home  to  me  the 
philosophy  of  the  trite  old  saying :  "A  new  broom 
sweeps  clean." 

However,  it  ought  to  be  said  in  justice  to  Cap- 
tain McCann  that  it  is  not  always  the  fault  of  the 
broom  that  it  does  not  sweep  clean,  but  sometimes 
the  person  who  holds  the  broom  is  to  blame.  He 
perhaps  went  as  far  as  he  dared  at  that  time  in  the 
warfare  against  panders. 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  i8l 

In  the  summer  of  1908  Captain  McCann  was 
raised  to  the  position  of  inspector  of  police  and 
placed  in  charge  of  the  Desplaines  Street  district 
where  the  West  Side  red  light  resorts  are  located. 

During  the  month  of  July,  1909,  the  State's  At- 
torney secured  information  that  Inspector  McCann 
was  protecting  the  girl  slave  traders  in  their  abom- 
inable business.  McCann  was  indicted  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  summer  for  accepting  bribes  from  resort 
owners,  and  was  accused  of  protecting  the  panders 
by  Louis  Frank,  who  with  his  brother,  Julius  Frank, 
carried  on  a  saloon  business.  Frank  turned  against 
McCann  in  order  to  save  himself  from  prosecution 
and  became  a  state's  witness. 

The  trial  lasted  from  the  first  week  in  September 
until  September  twenty-fourth. 

During  the  trial  the  Plummer  case  was  dug  out 
of  the  scrap  pile  of  disposed  of  cases.  Frank  testi- 
fied that  he  went  to  McCann  in  behalf  of  the 
Plummers  and  offered  him  two  hundred  dollars  to 
drop  the  prosecution  of  the  pandering  case  against 
them.  He  said  the  inspector  wanted  three  hundred 
and  fifty  dollars  and  a  bargain  was  finally  made 
and  the  Plummers  were  permitted  to  go  free  be- 
cause McCann  "  could  not,"  as  he  said,  "  produce 
witnesses  against  them." 

Many  other  instances  of  protection  were  disclosed 
by  witnesses  Morris  Schatz  and  Charlie  Genker. 

The  defense  charged  that  the  prosecution  of 
McCann  was  the  result  of  a  conspiracy  of  the 
denizens  of  the  underworld  to  get  rid  of  able  police 


l82      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

officials.  They  sought  to  prove  that  Louis  Frank 
and  other  witnesses  for  the  prosecution  tried  to  get 
McCann  transferred  from  the  Desplaines  Street 
Station,  that  Frank  had  made  charges  against  other 
public  officials,  including  Captain  Mahoney,  and  Lieu- 
tenant Elliott,  of  the  Desplaines  Street  Station,  and 
that  there  existed  a  general  plan  to  get  rid  of  police 
officials  who  were  too  severe  in  theu*  efforts  to 
clean  up  the  district. 

Louis  Frank,  however,  testified  that  he  had 
levied  tribute  upon  white  slave  traders  and  owners 
of  immoral  houses  for  Inspector  McCann  and  had 
turned  the  money  over  to  McCann,  retaining  his 
commission,  and  the  facts  thus  brought  out  against 
Inspector  McCann  convinced  the  jury  that  he  was 
guilty. 

A  motion  for  a  new  trial  was  argued  and  denied 
and  the  case  is  now  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Illi- 
nois upon  an  appeal  by  the  inspector. 

During  the  trial  it  was  hinted  that  Edward 
McCann  was  not  the  only  police  official  who  was 
protecting  and  receiving  revenue  from  the  panders. 
It  is  certainly  true  that  in  many  other  instances 
witnesses  in  pandering  cases  have  disappeared  be- 
fore the  cases  were  called  in  the  courts  where  they 
were  to  testify. 

In  the  winter   of    1908,   Bessie  M told  a 

story  before  Judge  Sadler  of  her  attempts  to  escape 
from  a  resort  in  the  red  light  district.  She  de- 
clared that  she  had  made  vain  appeals  to  two 
policemen  to  take  her  out  of  the  house,  and  that 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  183 

they  had  refused  to  interfere.  This  startling 
charge  was  made  durmg  the  trial  of  William  Cod- 
dington,  who  was  accused  by  Bessie  of  having 
sold  her  to  a  disreputable  house  on  Armour 
Avenue. 

Then  another  case  in  which  some  of  the  police 
of  the  red  light  district  seemed  derelict  in  their 
duty  was  revealed  to  the  courts  during  this  winter 
season.  Two  fifteen-year-old  girls  were  rescued 
from  a  resort  on  Twenty-first  Street.  The  keepers 
of  the  place  as  well  as  the  decoy er  of  thegh-ls  were 
arrested. 

The  girls,  Annie  K and   Barbara  G , 

were  found  and  taken  out  of  the  house  when  the 
mother  of  one  of  the  girls  appealed  to  the  police 
department  to  rescue  her  daughter.  Upon  informa- 
tion supplied  by  the  mother,  Policeman  James 
Horan  of  the  Eawson  Street  Station,  in  company 
with  Lieutenant  Duffy  and  Sergeant  Yanetta,  made 
a  search  for  the  girl.  It  seems  that  although  these 
girls  were  known  to  the  police  to  be  in  the  district, 
they  were  allowed  to  remain  there  until  officers 
from  the  outside  came  and  got  them. 

Both  girls  told  how  they  had  been  lured  into 
captivity  by  James  Kose.  He  accosted  them,  they 
said,  in  front  of  a  barber  shop  on  Milwaukee 
Avenue  and  induced  them  to  accompany  him  to 
the  place  on  Twenty-first  Street.  The  girls  said 
that  he  had  deceived  them  by  false  promises  and 
misrepresentations.  Since  the  mistress  of  the  house 
to  which  they  had  been  taken  was  doubtful  of  their 


184      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

ages  when  Rose  brought  them  in,  she  notified  the 
police  of  the  Twenty-second  Street  Station  that  she 
had  two  new  girls  and  she  would  like  to  have  them 
interviewed. 

Two  detectives,  the  woman  said,  visited  the  place 
and  questioned  the  girls,  placing  their  names  in  a 
book.  The  girls  had  been  told  by  Rose  to  say  that 
they  were  nineteen  years  old,  although  an}^  one  in 
the  court  room  could  have  discerned  at  a  glance 
that  the  girh  were  very  much  younger  than  that. 
The  two  detectives,  however,  whose  business  it  was 
to  book  girls  in  immoral  houses,  according  to  a 
system  that  had  been  inaugurated  in  the  vice  dis- 
tricts, took  the  truth  of  the  girls'  statements  in  re- 
gard to  their  ages  for  granted  and  did  not  make 
any  further  inquiry,  and  that  was  the  last  heard  of 
the  police  until  the  girls  were  rescued. 

The  flagrant  inconsistency  of  this  booking  system 
is  plainly  seen  in  this  instance.  As  a  method  for 
the  protection  of  girls  and  for  the  pm'pose  of 
eradicating  the  slave  traffic  it  was  not  a  success  and 
not  productive  of  good  results. 

Either  the  officers  who  were  assigned  to  visit  the 
various  disorderl}^  houses  and  book  the  new  inmates 
were  very  lax  and  inefficient  in  the  performance  of 
their  duties,  or  there  is  only  one  other  assumption 
to  be  made.  This  conclusion  is  arrived  at  because 
of  the  great  number  of  girls  who  were  constantly 
being  rescued  from  immoral  houses,  who  had  passed 
the  so-caUed  "  examination  "  of  the  booking  officers, 
and  were  later  found  to  be  the  victims  of  slave 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  185 

agents.  The  girls,  after  being  liberated  and  while 
either  in  the  court  testifying,  or  making  statements 
to  the  State's  Attorney,  invariably  said  that  they 
had  never  been  questioned  by  the  officers  as  to 
whether  or  not  they  had  been  lured  to  the  houses 
by  panders  or  had  been  intimidated  and  forced  to 
make  false  statements  by  the  slave  traders. 

While  it  is  true  that  many  girls  were  taken  out 
of  the  houses  by  these  officers,  most  of  them  were 
immediately  sent  home  and  no  investigation  as  to 
how  they  were  procured  and  no  charges  against  the 
panders  were  made.  It  was  urged  by  these  officers 
that  they  did  not  wish  to  bring  the  girls  before  the 
public  and  subject  them  and  their  families  to  the 
scandal  which  would  naturally  attend  the  trial  of 
such  cases. 

At  first  glance  this  seems  a  good  reason,  and  some 
ministers  and  reform  workers  thought  that  it  was 
the  best  thing  to  do,  but  in  the  long  run  the  public 
has  suffered  for  it.  These  girls  and  their  families 
were  spared  the  additional  disgrace  of  publicity, 
but  the  girl  slave  traffickers  and  their  agents  were 
allowed  to  continue  unmolested  in  their  dastardly 
business. 

If  shielding  the  girls'  reputations  was  really  the 
purpose,  then  the  question  may  well  be  asked, — 
Why  was  it  that  in  some  instances  the  cases  were 
brought  to  the  attention  of  the  courts  and  in  others 
the  girls  were  shipped  quietly  out  of  the  city  with- 
out the  State's  Attorney's  office  or  the  court's 
knowing  anything  about  the  rescue  of  the  girls  ? 


i86      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Soon  after  my  present  office  was  organized,  in 
October,  1909,  an  extensive  inter-state  slave  traffic 
between  St.  Louis  and  Chicago  was  uncovered,  and 
the  heads  of  the  gang,  Maurice  Van  Bever  and  his 
wife,  Julia,  of  Chicago,  and  David  Garfinkle,  of 
St.  Louis,  were  convicted,  together  with  several  of 
their  agents. 

The  first  intimation  that  the  Van  Bevers  were 
bringing  girls  from  St.  Louis  came  to  the  United 
States  District  Attorney's  office  in  July,  1909,  in 
the  form  of  an  anonymous  letter  which  accused 
one  Mike  Hart,  then  a  barkeeper  in  Van  Bever's 
resort.  The  letter  was  sent  to  State's  Attorney 
Wayman,  as  the  case  was  not  within  Federal  juris- 
diction, and  was  later  turned  over  to  the  Chicago 
Law  and  Order  League  for  investigation.  Mr. 
Robert  Paranteau,  then  an  investigator  for  the 
league,  was  sent  out  on  the  case. 

His  story  is  told  in  his  affidavit,  of  which  the 
following  is  a  copy,  omitting  the  formal  parts : 

" '  A  letter  was  placed  in  my  hands  containing 
information  that  a  certain  party  by  the  name  of 
Mike  Hart  was  to  bring  from  St,  Louis  three  girls. 
This  was  on  August  31,  1909.  That  they  were  to 
leave  the  train  at  a  suburban  station  and  bring  the 
girls  in  an  automobile  to  a  house  (giving  the  loca- 
tion) owned  by  one  Van  Bever. 

"  '  I  immediately  that  afternoon  went  out  to  the 
Twenty-second  Street  Station  and  met  there  Cap- 
tain Cudmore,  in  command  of  the  station,  and 
showed  him  the  letter,  and  he  said  he  would  call 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  187 

in  the  lieutenant,  and  I  told  him  I  had  come  out 
there  to  see  him  especially  and  that  I  did  not  de- 
sire to  have  this  case  fall  through,  and  he  said : 
"  You  can  rely  on  this  man.  Lieutenant  Kellaher  ; 
he  knows  every  one  in  the  district.     I  don't." 

" '  He  then  called  in  the  lieutenant  and  intro- 
duced him  to  me.  He  then  went  over  the  case 
with  the  lieutenant.  The  lieutenant  declared  that 
he  knew  of  no  man  by  the  name  of  Mike  Hart,  but 
that  he  had  two  men,  very  reliable,  who  had  charge 
of  the  registering  all  those  people  who  were  in  the 
district,  and  they  would  know  if  such  a  person  was 
in  the  district.  I  asked  who  these  men  were,  and 
he  said :  "  Officers  Duffy  and  Coe." 

"'Captain  Cudmore  said:  "I  will  have  these 
officers  this  evening  at  the  patrol  box  at  the  north- 
west corner  of  (naming  the  streets)  at  nine  o'clock. 
You  meet  us  there." 

" '  I  then  left  the  station.  I  did  not  get  to  the 
corner  specified  until  a  quarter  past  nine.  The 
captain  was  there  with  the  two  officers.  He  said  : 
"  You  are  not  on  time."  I  said :  "  No.  Have 
they  come  ?  "  He  said  :  "  We  have  seen  nothing 
of  them."  We  waited  there  until  eleven  o'clock, 
when  the  captain  left  us.  I  waited  around  with 
Officers  Coe  and  Duffy  until  midnight.  While 
waiting  Coe  left  me  with  Duffy,  and  said  he  had 
to  go  and  call  on  some  place  in  the  district.  He 
was  gone  some  little  time  and  returned.  We  saw 
no  automobile  stop  at  the  place  and  got  no  trace 
of  the  people  we  were  looking  for  while  I  was  there. 


i88       Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

" '  Officers  Coe  and  Duffy  both  declared  to  me 
they  had  inquired  at  Van  Bever's  place,  and  no 
one  there  knew  of  such  a  person,  and  that  the 
party  evidently  had  given  an  assumed  name.  I 
told  them  the  information  I  had  was  reliable,  and 
we  spoke  about  the  letter,  and  they  tried  to  leave 
the  impression  that  they  were  "  on  the  square," 
and  were  anxious  to  run  down  the  matter, 

" '  They  said  they  had  made  inquiries  in  the 
neighbourhood  and  they  knew  of  no  person  in  the 
red  light  district,  in  Van  Bever's  place  or  else- 
where, by  the  name  of  Hart,  and  that  they  had 
found  nobody  in  the  district  who  did  know  any  one 
by  that  name. 

"  '  A  few  days  later,  September  13,  1909,  I  was 

standing  at  the  southwest  corner  of and 

streets  and  I  saw  Officers  Coe  and  Duffy 

come  down  the  street  from  the  west.     I  saw  them 

go  into  the  side  entrance  on street  to  Van 

Bever's  place,  called  "  The  White  City."    Presently 

they  came  out  of  the  front  door  on street 

and  crossed  the  street.     I  crossed  after  them  and 

we  stopped  at  the  side  entrance  on street 

of  the  saloon  on  the  ^southeast  corner.  I  asked 
them  if  they  had  heard  anything  more  about  Mike 
Hart  and  they  said  they  had  found  no  such  person 
in  the  district ;  that  we  had  evidently  been  given 
the  wrong  name ;  in  other  words,  "  a  bum 
steer." 

" '  I  saw  Captain  Cudmore  in  the  district  after 
that,  September  18,  1909,  and  he  said  nothing  ever 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  189 

came  from  that  information  that  I  had  given  them. 
I  also  met  Coe  and  Diiffy  several  times  in  the 
district  and  they  always  denied  that  there  was 
anything  to  the  case  above  referred  to.  I  said  to 
the  captain,  "You  would  know  if  any  strange 
Avomen  came  mto  the  district?"  and  he  said, 
"  Sure,"  and  he  Avent  on  to  explain  to  me  how 
they  registered  all  inmates  of  houses  of  prostitu- 
tion.' " 

In  contradiction  to  the  story  of  Coe  and  Duffy, 
as  sworn  to  by  Paranteau,  is  the  following  letter, 
written  September  4, 1909,  by  Mollie  Hart,  an  in- 
mate  of  Van  Bever's  resort,  which  letter  was  read 
in  evidence  on  the  trial  of  the  Yan  Severs  and 
aided  in  their  conviction,  as  it  was  written  at  the 
dictation  of  Maurice  Yan  Bever. 

"  Well,  dear,  I  received  your  letter  special  del 
and  I  think  you  would  be  able  to  understand  a 
little  by  this  time.  Clark  is  Paul.  (Paul  Auer, 
alias  Du  Bois,  one  of  Yan  Bever's  agents,  who 
forfeited  his  bond  later  when  arrested.)  He 
could  not  give  his  name  Paul  cause  Coe  and 
Duffy  came  and  told  Mr.  M.  Yan  Bever  that  a 
certain  party  told  them  that  you  went  after  some 
girls  and  these  was  watching  for  you  w^hen  you 
return. 

"  So  if  you  get  any  girls  coming  up  here  you  had 
better  leave  and  send  them  a  few  days  later  or 
either  get  off  at  Hinsdale  and  put  them  in  a  hotel 
for  a  few  days,  or  else  don't  bother  with  the  girls. 
Mr.  M.  Yan  Bever  said  so  you  had  better  do  some- 


190      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

thing  and  don't  fool  too  long  and  get  the  boss  sore 
at  you.    .    .    . 

"  Everything  will  be  all  right  if  you  come  back ; 
the  way  I  told  you  is  what  we  mean  everything  is 
O.  K.  next  week." 

"Written  on  the  face  of  the  letter  was  this : 

"Burn  every  letter  and  telegram  you  receive 

from  hear.     Leave  the  girls  behind  with  — . 

The  girls  will  have  to  wait  a  few  days  but  you 
come  back  at  once  alone." 

Notwithstanding  the  fact  that  Mollie  Hart  wrote 
that  Yan  Bever  had  been  warned  by  Officers  Coe 
and  Duffy,  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  traders  continued 
to  carry  on  their  business,  although  perhaps  more 
cautiously  because  of  this  warning. 

Mike  Hart  on  one  of  his  trips  to  St.  Louis  had 

seen  Sarah  J ,  and  she  was  persuaded  to  come 

to  Chicago.     It  was  the  exploitation  of  this  girl, 

Sarah    J ,    for  the  white  slave  market  that 

brought  sorrow  to  the  camp  of  these  panders,  for 
in  October  detectives  from  my  office  who  had  been 
watching  their  movements  arrested  Mollie  Hart 
and  Mike  Hart  soon  after  Sarah  was  made  a 
slave. 

The  prosecution  of  the  pandering  cases  against 
these  agents  and  the  other  members  of  the  gang 
brought  out  the  fact  that  Hart  did  bring  girls 
from  St.  Louis  and  that  Yan  Bever,  having  been 
"tipped  off,"  invented  other  schemes  for  eluding 
detectives  who  might  be  on  the  lookout. 

Mike  Hart,  who  was  convicted  of  pandering,  as 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  191 

were  the  other  traders  and  agents,  frankly  ad- 
mitted his  part  in  bringing  girls  to  Chicago  from 
St.  Louis,  and  made  charges  that  Officers  Coe  and 
Duffy  received  money  from  Van  Bever.  In  in- 
vestigating these  charges  it  was  found  that  at  the 
time  charged  Yan  Bever  cashed  a  pay  check  for 
one  of  these  officers.  They  thereby  escaped  per- 
haps more  serious  consequences  than  that  they  were 
put  in  uniform,  after  having  served  many  years  as 
plain  clothes  men,  and  transferred  from  the  red 
light  district  to  quiet  residence  or  suburb  stations. 
An  affidavit  of  Mike  Hart,  however,  charges  more 
than  that  they  received  money  from  Van  Bever, 
and  is  interesting  at  least  to  bear  out  Paranteau's 
story. 

"  State  of  Illinois, ) 
County  of  Cook,  j  ^^ 

"  Michael  Hart,  being  duly  sworn,  on  oath 
says : 

"  I  was  employed  at  the  Paris  (giving  location), 
from  April  to  October,  1909,  a  large  part  of  the 
time  as  a  bartender.  I  know  Officer  Coe  and  also 
Officer  Duffy.     They  used  to  come  into  the  Paris, 

at ,  often.     They  booked  all  the  girls.    They 

spoke  to  me  often.  I  would  give  them  cigars  and 
drinks  which  they  never  paid  for.  They  used  to 
call  me  Max  and  they  knew  me  from  April  up  to 
the  time  I  was  arrested,  October  13,  1909.  They 
knew  me  as  long  as  I  was  there.  They  came  in 
almost  every  day.    They  knew  MoUie  Hart,  too. 


192      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  In  the  month  of  September  m  the  Paris  I  saw 
Maurice  Yan  Bever  give  Coe  a  roll  of  money.  I 
could  not  tell  how  much  it  was.  I  saw  a  ten 
dollar  bill  and  lots  of  other  bills.  Maurice  "Van 
Bever  came  down-stairs  about  two  o'clock  or  three 
o'clock  and  took  the  money  from  his  pocket  and 
handed  it  to  Coe.  It  looked  to  me  fifty  or  a  hun- 
dred dollars. 

"  I  pretended  I  did  not  see  Coe  get  the  money. 
I  let  it  look  as  if  I  did  not  see  it.  I  did  not  want 
to  let  him  know  I  was  interfering  in  his  business. 
After  Coe  took  the  money  from  Yan  Bever  I  turned 
my  back  and  was  doing  something  to  the  back  of 
the  bar.  I  could  see  what  was  going  on  through 
the  mirror  at  the  bar.  Ofiicer  Duffy  was  hanging 
around  just  outside  the  door.  That  is  the  same 
Coe  that  comes  around  with  Duffy  booking  the 
girls.  Yan  Bever  said  Coe  and  Duffy  were  the 
only  ones  he  could  trust.  He  said  they  were  his 
friends. 

"  Coe  and  Yan  Bever  went  over  to  the  window, 
in  front  of  the  big  window,  and  talked  low.  I 
couldn't  hear  what  was  said.  I  played  ignorance. 
I  wanted  Yan  Bever  to  think  I  was  a  dunce.  That 
is  what  he  always  took  me  for,  a  big  fool,  and  that 
is  the  reason  he  would  always  talk  in  front  of  me. 

"  During  the  time  that  Mitchell  was  desk  sergeant 
at  Twenty-second  Street  I  wrapped  up  whiskey 
every  morning  and  Paul  Auer,  alias  Paul  Du 
Bois,  took  it  over  to  him.  This  took  place  every 
day.    ...    I    saw    .    .    .    Officers    Coe  and 


The  Police  and  the  Panders  193 

Duffy  drinking  with  Maurice  and  Julia  Yan  Bever 
in  the  dining-room  in  the  basement  of  the  Paris. 
"  Michael  Hart." 

"Subscribed  and  sworn  to 
before  me  this  twelfth  day 
of  January,  a.  d.  1910. 

"  James  P.  Haerold, 

"  Notary  Public." 

This  does  not  signify  that  the  whole  police  de- 
partment is  corrupt.  That  would  be  an  unfair 
conclusion.  Chief  of  Police  Leroy  T.  Steward, 
since  his  appointment  in  the  summer  of  1909,  has 
proved  himself  a  most  capable  and  efficient  officer, 
deserving  of  the  highest  praise  and  commendation 
for  his  courageous  and  earnest  efforts  to  rid  the 
city  of  its  evil  elements.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  I 
have  at  all  times  enjoyed  the  confidence  and  per- 
sistent help  of  the  police  of  Chicago  as  a  whole. 
They  have  gone  out  with  me  and  worked  with  me 
in  getting  evidence,  have  gone  "vWth  me  into  the 
com't  rooms  and  testified  in  behalf  of  the  people, 
helping  to  obtain  convictions  against  many  offenders. 
They  are  my  friends,  but  they  know  and  I  know, 
that  if  there  had  not  been  some  corrupt  officials 
and  subordinates,  pandering  could  never  have  been 
so  great  an  evil  in  the  city  of  Cliicago. 


XIV 

THE  LAST  OF  THE  CHICAGO-ST.  LOUIS  GANG 

MAUKICE  VAN  BEVEK  and  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  gang  had 
been  found  guilty,  Yan  Bever  receiving 
the  maximum  sentence,  one  year  and  a  fine  of  one 
thousand  dollars. 

While  Julia  Yan  Bever  was  being  tried  before 
Judge  "Walker,  over  in  another  court  where  Judge 
Going  was  presiding,  another  member,  the  last  of 
the  Chicago-St.  Louis  white  slave  crowd  was  on 
trial. 

This  was  David  Gariinkle,  who  conducted  the 
slave  headquarters  in  St.  Louis.  He  was  arrested 
in  St.  Louis  October  twenty-eighth  and  brought  to 
Chicago  November  first. 

The  latter  part  of  October  detectives  from  my 
office,  acting  upon  information  which  had  been  se- 
cured from  the  confessions  and  statements  made  by 
other  members  of  the  gang  in  Chicago,  scoured  St. 
Louis  for  additional  evidence  and  succeeded  in 
winding  around  Garfinkle  and  others  a  chain  of 
evidence  from  which  it  was  impossible  to  escape. 

On  the  evening  of  October  twenty-seventh  I 
went  to  St.  Louis  and  the  next  morning  caused 
Garfinkle  to  be  arrested.  He  was  brought  into  the 
194 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    19  c 

private  office  of  E.  P.  Creecy,  chief  of  pohce  in  St. 
Louis,  and  there  made  a  complete  statement  of  his 
connection  with  the  pandering  business.  This  state- 
ment was  made  in  the  presence  of  Chief  Creecy, 
Detective  William  Bowler  of  Chicago  and  myself. 
Garfinkle  blamed  the  Yan  Bevers  and  Dick  Tyler, 
one  of  the  slave  agents,  for  his  trouble. 

After  he  was  brought  to  Chicago  he  was  taken 
before  Judge  Kewcomer  at  the  Desplaines  Street 
court  and  there  he  demanded  a  jury  trial.  His 
case  was  transferred  to  the  criminal  court  building. 
Inasmuch  as  I  was  to  be  a  witness  in  this  case, 
having  heard  Garfinkle  make  a  confession  in  St. 
Louis,  and  knowing  that  legal  ethics  frown  upon  a 
lawyer  testifying  in  a  case  which  he  is  trying,  I  was 
fortunate  in  securing  the  able  services  of  the  Hon- 
ourable Haynie  R.  Pearson,  for  years  a  member  of 
the  State's  Attorney's  staff,  to  aid  the  Honourable 
William  E.  Fetzer,  Assistant  State's  Attorney,  in  the 
trial  of  Garfinkle. 

The  trial  began  on  N"ovember  fifteenth  and  as 
most  of  the  day  was  consumed  in  getting  a  jury, 
the  witnesses  were  not  called  until  the  following 

morning.     The  first   witness   was  Emma  W ° 

who  told  what  she  knew  about  the  case,  as  follows : 

^  "My  name  is  Emma  W and  at  the  present 

time  I  am  staying  at  the  Harrison  Street  Annex, 
and  have  been  there  for  five  weeks.  My  home  is 
in  St.  Louis,  Missouri.  I  have  kno^\Ti  the  defend- 
ant, David  Garfinkle,  since  the  first  of  May  I 
met  him  in  a  restaurant  where  I  was  eating  lunch 


196      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

after  I  had  come  from  my  work.  At  that  tune 
I  was  working  at  Mellecks,  Twelfth  and  Olive 
Streets. 

"  After  that  I  met  hun  a  number  of  times  at  dif- 
ferent places  around  in  restaurants.  The  first  time 
I  met  Garfinkle  he  told  me  he  was  from  Chicago, 
and  asked  me  whether  I  didn't  want  to  go  to 
Chicago  with  him.  He  said  he  was  a  travelling 
salesman  in  Chicago,  and  was  going  to  return  there. 

"  I  was  never  in  Chicago  until  I  came  up  here 
five  months  ago.  I  came  to  Chicago  on  the  eight- 
eenth day  of  June,  1909,  and  lived  at  Yan  Bever's 

place,  No.   Armour    Avenue.     When   Dick 

Tyler  came  down  to  St.  Louis  about  the  sixteenth 
of  June  I  had  another  talk  with  Garfinkle  in  which 
he  told  me  he  was  going  to  Chicago  and  asked  me 
to  come.  He  introduced  me  to  his  friend  Dick 
Tyler.  I  told  them  I  couldn't  go  and  they  said 
that  I  could  come  with  them.  The  next  day  Gar- 
finlile  said  that  he  could  not  come  with  us  that  day 
so  he  told  me  to  come  to  Chicago  with  his  friend 
Dick  Tyler  and  that  he  would  come  the  following 
two  weeks.  He  said  he  would  marry  me  after 
a  while  but  not  then,  and  also  that  I  could  come  to 
Chicago  and  he  would  be  on  soon.  He  said  I  could 
make  more  money  in  Chicago  than  I  could  there. 

"  After  I  left  St.  Louis  with  Dick  Tyler  I  next 
saw  Garfinkle  on  the  fourth  day  of  July  in  Yan 
Bever's  house  on  Armour  Avenue.  He  then  told 
me  he  was  going  back  to  St.  Louis  and  said  he 
didn't  have  any  money.    Maurice  Yan  Bever  gave 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    197 

him  fifteen  dollars,  which  was  charged  against  me 
and  added  to  the  debt  I  owed  Van  Bever." 

On  cross-examination  she  said  : 

"  In  St.  Louis  I  was  a  waitress  in  several  restau- 
rants. I  know  Mike  Hart.  He  came  to  Chicago 
on  the  same  train  that  Dick  Tyler  brought  me  on. 
Mike  Hart  was  connected  with  one  of  Van  Bever's 
places  too.  I  don't  know  who  paid  my  fare  to 
Chicago,  but  Dick  Tyler  had  the  tickets.  He  took 
me  directly  to  this  house,  and  I  was  an  inmate  in 
the  house  for  about  four  months.  During  these 
four  months  I  saw  Tyler  around  there  all  the  time. 
I  couldn't  go  home  because  I  didn't  have  any  money 
and  I  was  in  debt  to  the  house  and  they  did  not 
allow  me  to  get  my  clothes.  The  first  two  months 
I  was  there  I  was  not  allowed  to  go  out  without 
Madam  Van  Bever.  I  never  went  out  alone.  If 
she  was  not  with  us  somebody  else  was." 

The  next  witness  was  Tootsie  T ,  who  said : 

"  My  name  is  Tootsie  T and  I  am  stopping 

at  the  Harrison  Street  Annex,  and  have  been  there 
for  the  last  three  weeks.     Before  that  I  was  at 

Madam  's  at  No. Armour  Avenue.     I 

know  Emma  "W ,  the  young  woman  who  has 

just  testified.  She  was  at  one  of  Van  Bever's 
places  while  I  was  there.  I  also  know  the  defend- 
ant, David  Garfinkle.  I  met  him  about  three 
weeks  before  I  came  to  Chicago  at  his  place  of 

business  in  St.  Louis.     Emma  W was  with  me. 

He  asked  me  to  copie  up  to  Chicago  and  said  he 
would  be  there  in  about  two  weeks. 


198      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

"  I  did  not  see  him  again  until  in  July  except  1 
saw  him  the  night  of  the  eighteenth  of  June,  when 
I  left  St.  Louis,  that  was  when  I  had  this  conversa- 
tion with  him.     I  then  had  known  him  about  three 

weeks.     Besides  Emma  W ,   Dick  Tyler  and 

Mike  Hart  were  present,  well  I  don't  know  whether 
Mike  was  there  or  not,  but  he  was  on  the  train 
with  us  and  brought  a  blond  girl  up  here  to 
Chicago.  The  place  we  met  was  above  Garfinkle's 
store.     It  was  sort  of  a  big  parlour  or  office. 

"  On  the  fourth  day  of  July  I  saw  Garfinkle  at 
Yan  Bever's  place.  He  came  in  there  and  says  to 
me,  '  Tootsie,  I  am  broke,  I  am  up  here  and  I  am 
all  in  and  down  and  out,  and  Yan  Bever  is  going 
to  give  me  twenty  dollars  on  your  account.'  He 
came  back  later  in  the  evening  and  said  he  got  the 
money  all  right. 

"  When  I  lived  in  St.  Louis  I  was  working  on 
West  Bell.  I  am  eighteen  years  old.  Tootsie  was 
the  name  given  to  me  by  Dick  Tyler  the  day  I  came 
up  here  and  I  have  been  known  by  that  name  ever 
since.     That  is  not  my  real  name. 

"  I  know  Police  Officer  Coe  of  the  Twenty-second 
Street  Station.  When  I  first  went  to  Yan  Bever's 
place  I  had  a  conversation  with  Officer  Coe  in 
which  I  told  him  that  I  had  been  a  bad  woman  for 
two  years  and  that  I  came  to  Chicago  from  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky.  This  was  not  so,  but  I  told  that 
to  Officer  Coe  because  Madam  Yan  Bever  and  Dick 
Tyler  told  me  I  had  to  tell  b^'m  that." 

Mike  Hart,  who  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  con- 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    199 

victed  previously,  was  then  called  to  the  witness 
stand. 

"  My  name  is  Michael  Hart.  I  have  been  in  the 
house  of  correction  since  the  twenty-third  of  last 
month.  My  home  was  originally  in  St.  Louis.  I 
have  known  the  defendant,  Garfinkle,  since  the  mid- 
dle of  June.  I  got  acquainted  with  him  in  St.  Louis 
where  I  was  introduced  by  Dick  Tyler,  who  told 
him  we  were  down  there  for  girls,  and  he  said  he 
could  get  a  couple  for  us.     He  said  he  would  get 

this  Emma  W .     I   did  not  see  Emma  "W 

nor  Tootsie  T until  the  night  we  left.     I  saw 

the  defendant  that  night  in  his  place  of  business.  I 
asked  him  where  the  girls  were,  and  he  said  they 
were  up-stairs.  I  asked  him  if  they  were  coming 
and  he  said,  '  Yes.'  I  met  them  at  the  depot,  these 
two  girls  and  Dick  Tyler  and  we  got  on  the  train 
and  came  to  Chicago  and  went  to  Yan  Bever's 
resort.     The  girls  stayed  there. 

"  I  next  saw  the  defendant  on  the  fourth  of  July 
and  had  a  talk  with  him  and  Dick  Tyler.  Garfinkle 
and  Tyler  went  out,  and  when  they  came  back  Gar- 
finkle said  he  got  fifteen  dollars  on  Emma  and 
twenty  dollars  on  Tootsie." 

On  cross-examination  Mike  Hart  testified : 

"  I  am  twenty-three  years  old.  I  was  born  in 
New  Orleans  but  left  there  when  ten  years  old  to  go 
with  my  mother  to  St.  Louis.  During  the  last  year 
I  lived  with  my  wife  in  St.  Louis.  She  has  been  an 
inmate  of  this  house  on  Armour  Avenue  where  I 
worked.     I  was  a  waiter  and  tended  bar  in  both  of 


200      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Van  Bever's  places.  I  was  sent  to  the  Bridewell 
for  ten  months  and  a  three  hundred  dollar  fine  for 
pandering.  Procuring  girls  has  been  my  business 
for  the  last  three  months." 

The  next  witness  was  Joseph  L.  Kinder,  of  the 
Chicago  Detective  Bureau,  who  after  stating  his 
name  testified : 

"  I  have  been  a  police  officer  for  twenty  years. 
I  am  now  working  on  special  detail,  and  have  seen 
this  defendant  and  had  a  conversation  with  him  at 
the  Desplaines  Street  Station.  The  day  after  he 
came  from  St.  Louis  he  told  me  that  he  came  up 
here  from  St.  Louis  about  the  fourth  of  July,  that 
he  went  down  to  Yan  Bever's  place  on  Armour 
Avenue.  He  said  that  he  had  been  out,  spending 
more  money  than  he  ought  to  have  done,  so  that  he 
had  not  enough  money  to  get  back  to  St.  Louis. 

He  said  he  asked  Emma  W for  money  and  she 

gave  him  five  dollars  and  told  him  to  stay  over,  and 
that  he  got  fifteen  dollars  from  Van  Bever." 

Being  cross-examined,  Officer  Kinder  said  : 

"  I  went  to  the  lieutenant's  room  with  a  stenog- 
rapher and  he  was  brought  up  there.  I  asked  him 
if  he  wanted  to  make  a  statement,  told  him  he  didn't 
have  to  unless  he  wanted  to,  and  he  said  that  he  had 
made  a  statement  to  the  chief  of  police  of  St.  Louis 
and  to  Mr.  Koe,  and  that  he  did  not  want  to  say  any 
more.     Mr.  Hogan,  an  attorney,  was  with  me." 

Chief  of  Police  Creecy,  of  St  Louis,  who  had  come 
on  to  testify  against  Garfinkle,  was  the  next  witness 
called : 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    201 

"  My  name  is  Edmund  P.  Creecy.  I  am  chief  of 
police  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri,  and  I  have  met  Mr. 
Clifford  G.  Roe  within  the  last  month.  I  first  met 
the  defendant,  Garflnkle,  at  my  office  in  St.  Louis. 
I  had  a  conversation  with  him  in  Mr.  Roe's  pres- 
ence. He  told  me  he  kept  a  saloon,  and  that  he 
knew  a  man  by  the  name  of  Tyler.  I  asked  him  a 
few  questions  merely  to  open  the  conversation,  and 
then  Mr.  Roe  questioned  him  more  particularly. 
He  spoke  about  Tyler  coming  to  St.  Louis,  and  said 
he  made  his  headquarters  around  his  (the  defend- 
ant's) office,  and  spent  a  good  deal  of  money  around 
the  saloon,  that  telegrams  and  letters  addressed  to 
Tyler  came  there  from  Chicago.  Garfinkle  said  that 
Tyler  made  three  trips  to  St.  Louis,  the  third  time 
he  learned  that  Tyler  was  there  to  get  girls  and 
take  them  to  Chicago  for  immoral  purposes,  and  he 
mentioned  having  introduced  Tyler  to  a  girl  whom 
he  knew  who  went  to  Chicago  with  him.     I  recall 

that  he  mentioned  the  name  of  Emma  "W ,  but 

I   don't  remember  the  name  Tootsie  T .     He 

said  that  he  went  to  Chicago  in  July,  that  Tyler 
induced  him  to  come  and  open  a  place  of  business 
here.  Tyler  told  him  that  everything  was  wide 
open  in  Chicago,  and  he  could  make  lots  of  money, 
and  he  and  three  or  four  others  came  here  on  a 
cheap  rate  and  went  to  this  place  of  Yan  Bever's. 
He  said  he  spent  two  hundred  dollars  in  there  and 
was  going  to  leave  and  they  did  not  want  him  to 
go  and  loaned  him  some  money.  I  am  not  positive 
as  to  the  amount,  and  that  he  spent  it  at  the  bar." 


202      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

On  his  cross-examination  Chief  Creecy  testified : 

"  I  have  been  connected  with  the  police  depart- 
ment for  thirty-two  years,  and  have  been  chief  of 
police  a  little  over  three  years. 

"  Garfinkle  said  in  that  conversation  that  he  had 
received  telegrams  addressed  to  him,  and  on  open- 
ing them  found  they  were  for  Tyler."  He  then 
gave  the  location  of  Garfinkle's  place  of  business, 
on  Market  Street  in  St.  Louis. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Chief  Creecy's  testimony  I 
was  called  to  the  stand  and  testified : 

"  My  name  is  Clifford  G.  Koe. 

"  I  know  the  defendant,  Garfinkle.  I  first  saw  hhn 
on  the  twenty-first  of  October,  this  year,  in  the 
office  of  the  chief  of  police  of  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 
There  were  present  at  that  meeting,  the  chief  of 
police.  Detective  William  Bowler  of  Chicago,  and 
myself. 

"  After  a  few  questions  by  the  chief  of  police, 
Garfinkle  said  he  would  tell  the  whole  thing  from 
the  beginning.  He  said  that  a  man  by  the  name  of 
Dick  Tyler  had  worked  for  him  as  a  bartender ;  that 
Dick  Tyler  had  come  on  to  Chicago  and  was  work- 
ing for  Maurice  Yan  Bever  at  the .     That  he 

came  up  to  St.  Louis  three  times,  and  had  always 
come  to  his  place  and  had  received  mail  and  tele 
grams  there.  That  once  or  twice  tickets  had  come 
in  the  name  of  Garfinkle,  and  that  Garfinkle  had  to 
go  to  the  station  to  get  them.  I  asked  him  if  he  did 
not  know  that  Dick  Tyler  was  getting  girls  to  take 
to  a  house  of  ill  fame  in  Chicago,  and  he  said  that 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    203 

he  did  not  know  it  until  the  last  time  and  then  I 
said  to  him,  '  Didn't  you  know  it  when  you  were 
getting  letters  and  telegrams  and  tickets  to  take 
these  girls  down  ? '  And  he  said  he  might  have  sur- 
mised it  but  he  did  not  know  it.  He  said  the  last 
time  Dick  Tyler  was  there  he  told  him  he  would 
get    into    trouble   if  he   kept  this  up.     He  said 

he  knew  Emma  W ,  but  not  by  that  name,  but 

by  the  name  of  May  W ;  that  he  had  intro- 
duced this  girl  to  Dick  Tyler ;  that  they  met  in  his 
place  the  night  before  these  girls  came  to  Chicago. 

"  He  said  he  came  to  Chicago  about  the  fourth  of 
July  with  two  or  three  friends,  and  went  out  to 
Maurice  Yan  Bever's  resorts.     He  said  he  got  five 

dollars  from  Emma  W ,  or  May  W as  he 

called  her,  and  fifteen  dollars  from  Maurice  Yan 
Bever  on  this  girl,  but  that  he  spent  it  all  in  the 
place. 

"  The  chief  said  to  him,  '  Do  you  call  yourself  a 
good  citizen  when  you  did  not  caU  me  up  when  you 
knew  they  were  procuring  girls  from  St.  Louis  and 
taking  them  to  Chicago,  and  using  your  place  for 
headquarters  ?  '  Garfinkle  said,  '  Chief,  I  did  not 
want  to  get  the  fellows  in  bad,  I  did  not  want  to 
get  in  bad  myself.  Tyler  was  spending  lots  of 
money  over  my  bar.' 

"  When  I  told  him  what  the  girls  had  said  about 
this,  he  said  he  would  go  right  down  to  Chicago 
and  face  the  charges,  if  I  would  pay  his  car-fare  and 
a  bartender  to  take  his  place  and  give  him  enough 
to    make  up  what  he  would  make  while  he  was 


204      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

gone.  Later  he  said  he  would  not  come  until  he 
had  consulted  a  la^vyer.  I  told  him  that  I  would  be 
very  glad  for  him  to  do  so.  I  did  not  see  him  again 
until  he  was  in  Chicago." 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  State's  testimony  the 
defendant,  Garfinkle,  took  the  witness  stand  in  his 
own  behalf.     He  testified  : 

"My  name  is  David  Garfinkle.  I  am  twenty- 
eight  years  old,  and  am  unmarried.  Before  coming 
to  the  jail  a  few  days  ago  I  lived  with  my  parents 

at  No.   Cook  Avenue  in  St.  Louis.     I  have 

been  a  saloon-keeper  for  eight  years.  My  place  of 
business  now  is  No. Market  Street,  St.  Louis. 

"  I  know  Tootsie  T and  Emma  W .     I  did 

not  induce  or  persuade  Emma  W to  come  to 

Chicago  to  enter  a  house  of  prostitution.  I  never 
knew  Yan  Bever  until  I  came  to  Chicago  and  was 
in  his  place  the  fifth  of  July.  Dick  Tyler  was  an 
employee  of  mine.  He  worked  for  me  two  years 
and  a  half. 

"  I  remember  the  day  I  went  to  the  office  of  the 
chief  of  police  of  St.  Louis.  I  don't  remember  the 
conversation  exactly,  I  was  so  excited.  I  got  excited 
and  said,  'I  will  go  to  Chicago  immediately.' 
Mr.  Roe  said,  '  You  have  been  indicted  by  the 
grand  jury,'  and  then  I  said,  '  If  that  is  the  case  I 
don't  know  what  is  up  there ;  I  will  have  to  engage 
counsel  and  find  out  whether  I  was  indicted.'  After 
wards  I  waived  extradition  and  came  back  volun- 
tarily. I  was  first  brought  to  the  Desplaines 
Street  Police  Station. 


Last  of  the  Chicago-St.  Louis  Gang    205 

"I    never    asked    Emma    W and  Tootsie 

T or    any  women  to  come  to  Chicago  and 

enter  a  house  of  prostitution,  and  I  never  received 
any  money  or  any  compensation  from  any  person 
for  furnishing  girls  for  immoral  purposes.  When  I 
came  from  St,  Louis  to  Chicago  I  had  about  two 
hundred  and  forty  or  two  hundred  and  forty-five 
dollars  in  my  pocket.  I  did  not  visit  Michael  Hart, 
but  I  stayed  at  the  Elite  Hotel  on  the  West  Side, 
and  visited  the  place  on  Armour  Avenue  on  the 
fifth  of  July.  I  saw  Michael  Hart ;  he  was  work- 
ing there.  I  had  a  few  drinks  with  a  friend  at  the 
bar,  and  we  went  back  in  the  rear  of  the  house  and 
there  I  bought  bottles  of  beer  for  seven." 

Garfinkle  was  then  cross-examined,  as  follows  : 

"  I  have  been  in  the  saloon  business  in  St.  Louis 
for  eight  years.     Before  that  time  I  worked  at  a 

factory, .     I  was  working  there  at  a  machine 

in  the  clothing  business.  I  was  first  located  in  the 
saloon  on  Ninth  Street,  and  after  that  I  opened  up  a 
place  by  myself  on  Pauline  Street  and  was  there 
for  about  five  or  six  years  ;  from  there  I  went  to 
Chestnut  Street,  I  stayed  there  about  one  year 
and  moved  to  the  present  place,  where  I  have  been 
in  business  sixteen  months, 

"  The  first  time  I  saw  that  woman  (indicating 

Tootsie  T )  was  the  time  she  left  for  Chicago 

with  Dick  Tyler.  She  was  in  the  company  that 
went  to  Chicago  with  him.  I  knew  they  were  go- 
ing to  Chicago  because  Emma  W told  me 

she  was  going  that  evening.    When  Tyler  cam© 


2o6      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

down  the  third  time  I  didn't  know  what  he  came 
for.  He  was  in  company  with  his  wife.  I  never 
knew  that  Dick  Tyler  was  bringing  girls  to  Chicago. 
Dick  was  always  a  good  boy.  I  didn't  make  the 
statement  to  the  chief  of  police  and  Mr.  Roe  in  the 
way  they  told  it  about  knowing  that  Dick  Tyler 
was  bringing  girls.  Officer  Kinder's  statement  on 
the  stand  was  false.  I  never  had  any  trouble  with 
the  chief  of  police  of  St.  Louis.  I  never  knew  him 
until  the  day  I  was  in  his  office. 

"  The  chief  of  police  asked  me  how  I  knew  this 
Tyler  was  associated  with  prostitutes.  I  said  I 
didn't  know  it  until  the  last  time  when  he  came 
there  with  his  wife.  I  told  the  chief  that  I  cen- 
sured Tyler  and  told  him  he  would  go  to  the  peni- 
tentiary unless  he  led  a  better  life  and  take  his  girl 
out  of  the  house  of  prostitution  and  make  a  living 
for  her.  I  liked  the  boy  and  told  him  he  would  go 
to  the  penitentiary  if  he  led  that  kind  of  a  life. 
Tyler  was  getting  his  mail  at  my  place,  and  he  got 
railroad  tickets  there." 

The  jury  brought  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  and  the 
judge  sentenced  Garfinkle  to  serve  six  months  in 
the  house  of  correction  and  pay  a  fine  of  three  hun- 
dred dollars. 


XY 

THE  AWAKENING 

THE  traffic  in  girls  is  domestic  and  foreign, 
local  and  international.     Thus  far  refer- 
ence has  been  made  only  to  the  domestic 
and  local  traffic. 

The  trade  in  foreign  gu^ls,  the  importation  of 
foreign  girls  for  immoral  purposes,  assumed  such 
proportions  that  in  1904  the  President  of  the 
United  States  signed  a  treaty  or  convention  with 
several  of  the  European  nations,  by  which  coopera- 
tion to  stamp  out  this  international  traffic  in  vice 
was  agreed  upon.  The  Senate  had  ratified  the 
treaty,  but  as  it  called  for  enforcement  by  "  Fed- 
eral police,"  which  the  government  does  not  possess, 
the  authorities  in  "Washington  found  that  it  was  not 
advisable  to  put  the  provisions  of  the  treaty  into  ef- 
fect. 

The  traffic  in  French  girls  had  become  notorious. 
The  large  number  of  these  women  in  vice  resorts  in 
nearly  every  large  city  in  the  United  States  was 
common  knowledge  to  those  who  were  at  all  con- 
servant  with  the  situation.  But  what  could  be 
done  ?  Police  officials  of  Chicago  have  since  testi- 
fied that  French  women  came  into  the  Chicago 
levee  districts  "  by  the  hundreds  "  each  year,  but 
207 


2o8      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

they  were  all  "  over  legal  age,"  and  it  was  "  impos- 
sible," they  said,  to  find  any  evidence  of  the  girls 
having  been  sold.  In  the  absence  of  any  law  pro- 
vided especially  against  harbouring  foreign  women, 
the  police  said  they  could  do  nothing.  They  were 
suspicious,  they  testified,  of  panderous  agencies  at 
work  somewhere,  but  so  well  covered  were  the 
tracks  of  the  panders  that  not  only  Chicago  police, 
but  detectives  in  the  employ  of  both  the  United 
States  and  of  France  declared  they  were  completely 
baffled.  Government  immigration  officers  seemed 
likewise  nonplussed.  They  knew  the  situation,  but 
were  unable  to  solve  it. 

Accordingly  Congress,  in  view  of  these  facts,  in 
the  spring  of  1908,  passed  a  law,  seeking  by  im- 
migration restrictions  to  stifle  the  international 
slave  traffic.  This  law  made  it  a  felony,  punishable 
by  not  more  than  five  years'  imprisonment  and  by 
a  fine  not  to  exceed  five  thousand  dollars  to  "  keep, 
maintain,  control,  support  or  harbour  "  any  female 
alien  for  immoral  purposes  within  three  years  after 
she  shall  have  entered  the  United  States. 

Early  in  June  Secretary  of  State  Eoot  became 
convinced  that  the  treaty  of  1904  could  be  made 
operative  by  cooperation  between  the  Federal  and 
State  governments.  The  desirability  of  such  action 
was  made  apparent  to  the  administration  by  the 
report  of  an  investigation,  which  was  made  under 
the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and 
Labour.  This  investigation  had  found  that  there 
were  agents  in  various  parts  of  Europe  who  mad© 


The  Awakening  209 

it  a  practice  to  send  women  to  the  United  States 
for  iminoral  purposes. 

This  treaty,  known  as  the  "  Treaty,  series  Num- 
ber 469,  an  agreement  between  the  United  States 
and  other  powers  for  the  repression  of  trade  in 
white  women,"  adhered  to  by  this  country  since 
June  6,  1908,  was  proclaimed  by  President  Koose- 
velt  on  June  fifteenth  of  that  year.  The  treaty 
has  for  its  purpose :  "To  assure  to  women  who 
have  attained  their  majority  and  are  subjected  to 
deception  or  constraint,  as  well  as  minor  women 
and  girls,  an  efficacious  protection  against  the 
criminal  traffic  known  under  the  name  of.  Trade  in 
White  Women,  Traite  des  Blanches."  One  of  the 
provisions  of  the  treaty  is  that  "  The  government 
agrees  also  within  the  limits  of  the  law  to  return 
to  their  country  of  origin  those  of  such  women  and 
girls  who  ask  their  return  or  who  may  be  claimed 
by  persons  having  authority  over  them." 

Under  the  Immigration  Act,  which  was  passed  in 
the  spring  of  1908,  the  Honourable  Edwin  W.  Sims, 
United  States  District  Attorney  in  Chicago,  aided 
by  his  worthy  assistant,  Harry  A.  Parkin,  prose- 
cuted successfully  twenty-four  cases  against  pro- 
curers, who  were  making  a  business  of  importing 
foreign  girls  and  selling  them  into  disreputable 
houses. 

There  was  general  regret,  by  the  law-abiding 
element,  when  these  activities  on  the  part  of  the 
Federal  authorities  were  brought  to  a  standstill  and 
their  successful  prosecutions  were  hampered  by  a 


21  o      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

decision  of  the  Supreme  Court  which  declared  un- 
constitutional that  part  of  the  Immigration  Act 
relative  to  harbouring  imported  girls  in  immoral 
resorts. 

Although  this  decision  thi'ew  the  burden  of 
prosecuting  the  panders  back  upon  the  states,  the 
Federal  authorities  have  always  been  ready  to  co- 
operate and  give  all  possible  assistance  to  the  state 
authorities  in  their  efforts  to  run  down  and  prose- 
cute the  panders.  An  instance  of  this  cooperation 
was  the  case  of  Adelbert  Sterk,  who  was  sent  from 
the  United  States  District  Attorney's  office  to  the 
State's  Attorney  to  be  prosecuted. 

Sterk,  who  it  was  said  was  once  an  officer  in  the 
Austrian  army,  was  charged  with  harbouring  an 
alien  woman  for  immoral  purposes,  and  his  case 
was  a  particularly  flagrant  one. 

The  girl  in  the  case  was  Tereza  J ,  a  young 

Hungarian  girl,  who  asserted  that  she  first  became 
acquainted  with  Sterk  in  Budapest,  Hungary.  He 
placed  her  in  a  house  of  ill  repute  in  the  Hungarian 
city,  and  she  remained  there  a  year.  Finally,  she 
saw  an  opportunity  to  escape  from  this  place,  and 
came  to  America  only  to  be  pursued  by  Sterk  who 
followed  her  by  the  next  boat.  When  he  caught 
up  with  her  in  the  United  States,  he  attempted  to 
sell  her  again  for  white  slave  purposes ;  so  as  a 
last  resort  the  girl  sought  the  Austrian  Consul  and 
secured  deportation  to  her  native  land.  Sterk 
learned  of  her  plans  to  leave  America  and  made 
preparations  to  follow  her,  but  before  doing  this 


The  Awakening  2ii 

he  again  tried  to  force  lier  into  an  immoral 
house. 

When  he  was  turned  over  to  the  police  oiScers, 
whom  I  had  sent  after  hmi,  a' new  charge  was  pre- 
ferred against  hun  under  the  state  law  and  he  was 
found  guilty  in  Judge  Newcomer's  court  and 
sentenced  to  a  year  in  the  house  of  correction. 

There  have  been  hundreds  of  foreign  ghls 
shipped  mto  this  country  for  immoral  purposes, 
and  yet  the  number  of  such  girls  is  much  lower 
than  that  of  the  girls  of  our  own  country  who  have 
been  procured  by  the  panders.  In  the  United 
States,  at  least  three-fourths  of  the  girl  slave  vic- 
tims have  been  mveigled  from  our  own  farms, 
homes,  towns  and  cities ;  but  it  was  the  foreigner 
who  taught  the  American  this  dastardly  busmess. 

During  the  year  of  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago 
a  great  many  women  of  loose  character  came  to 
this  city.  Others  were  brought  by  the  French 
maquereaux,  the  Jewish  cadets  and  the  Italian 
pimps  from  New  York  City.  The  French  and  the 
Italian  procurers  took  up  theh  abode  on  the  South 
and  North  Sides  of  Chicago,  the  Jewish  cadets  on 
the  West  Side. 

Soon  the  ownersliip  of  the  disreputable  houses 
passed  into  the  hands  of  these  men,  who,  with  a 
constant  supply  of  fresh  immigrant  girls,  prospered. 
They  continue  to  be  the  landlords  of  vice  in  the 
Chicago  "segregated"  districts,  and  the  w^omen 
who  appear  to  be  the  owners  are  for  the  most  part 
only  hirelings. 


212       Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

Self-preservation  prompted  the  other  owners, 
who  saw  these  men  of  foreign  birth  growing  rich 
all  around  them,  to  adopt  the  same  methods.  They 
began  sending  out  panders  to  get  one  or  two  new 
girls,  and  when  this  experiment  was  found  to  be  easy 
and  profitable,  they  began  to  hire  men  and  women 
for  the  sole  purpose  of  procuring  white  slaves. 

Thus  the  traffic  we  know  to-day,  which  extends 
throughout  the  United  States. 

Twenty-eight  of  the  forty-six  states  of  the  Union 
have  witnessed  white  slave  cases  of  more  or  less 
horrible  detail  since  November  1,  1909.  Not 
that  social  conditions  have  been  worse  during  that 
period  than  at  other  times,  or  even  that  more  girls 
have  been  sold  into  slavery  than  formerly,  but  a 
combination  of  circmnstances  has  caused  certain 
public  officials  in  the  various  states  to  look  about 
them,  and  having  looked  they  have  seen.  Perhaps 
further  investigation  would  reveal  more  instances 
of  the  deadly  work  of  the  white  slave  agents. 

Chief  among  the  causes  for  the  general  activity 
which  has  brought  to  light  pandering  cases  m  all 
sections  of  the  country  is  the  fight  which  has  been 
waged  in  New  York  and  Chicago  against  the 
panders. 

Since  December,  1906,  more  than  three  hundred 
cases  against  the  owners  and  procurers  of  girls  have 
been  successfully  prosecuted  in  Chicago.  Kenewed 
strength  and  greater  facilities  for  the  fight,  how- 
ever, have  brought  telling  results  since  October, 
1909,  when — after  my  resignation  from  the  office  of 


The  Awakening  213 

Assistant  State's  Attorney — a  Chicago  philantln-o- 
pist  established  my  present  office,  with  its  corps  of 
competent  detectives  and  maintained  this  office  for 
several  months  until  other  philanthropists  volun- 
teered to  help  carry  on  the  work.  Further  the 
stringent  orders  issued  by  Chief  of  Police  Steward, 
requiring  the  closing  of  all  doors  between  saloons 
and  immoral  resorts,  the  banishing  of  men  owners, 
managers  and  employees,  and  forbidding  unescorted 
women  to  be  in  saloons,  have  had  a  marked  effect. 

In  New  York  since  the  prosecutions  which  fol- 
lowed the  report  of  the  famous  "  Committee  of 
Fifteen  "  in  1902,  the  panders  had  been  operating 
almost  unchecked,  until  just  before  the  Xew  York 
elections  in  1909,  when  the  white  slave  traffic 
became  a  political  issue.  The  investigations  of  the 
special  grand  jury  of  which  Mr.  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  was  foreman,  and  the  able  prosecuting 
by  District  Attorney  Charles  S.  Whitman  resulted 
in  the  conviction  of  several  white  slave  dealers. 

Many  panders  in  New  York  and  Chicago  decided 
suddenly  that  the  climate  of  other  cities  would  be 
more  conducive  of  their  general  welfare.  Indeed 
the  indications  are  that  eight  or  nine  hundred  men, 
who  were  living  off  the  loathsome  earnings  of 
women,  whom  they  practically  owned,  have  seen 
fit  to  leave  Chicago  and  take  up  residence  elsewhere 
since  November,  1909.  What  New  York  and 
Chicago  have  lost  by  this  exodus,  other  cities  have 
gained,  or  vice  versa,  if  you  prefer. 

Despite  the  fact  that  the  general  press  had  in 


214      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

formed  the  people  everywhere  of  the  prosecutions 
of  the  panders  in  the  two  largest  cities  and  spread 
the  warning  to  parents  which  I  and  others  had  ex- 
pressed whenever  called  upon  to  speak  upon  this 
subject,  some  communities  were  rudely  awakened 
by  the  report  of  the  Immigration  Commission,  in 
the  fall  of  1909.  This  report  named,  besides  New 
York  and  Chicago,  San  Francisco,  Seattle,  Portland, 
Salt  Lake,  Ogden,  Butte,  Denver,  Buffalo,  Boston 
and  New  Orleans  as  white  slave  trading  points. 
It  was  soon  followed  by  President  Taft's  message 
to  Congress,  recommending  a  Federal  law  directed 
against  white  slavery. 

All  these  things  have  contributed  to  the  general 
awakening  throughout  the  country,  which  has 
brought  to  light  so  many  white  slave  cases. 
They  have  helped  to  arouse  the  people  to  the 
enormity  of  the  situation,  and  caused  them  to  de- 
mand better  laws  directed  at  the  suppression  of 
pandering. 

Since  the  pandering  law  became  operative  in 
Illinois,  July  1,  1908,  twelve  other  states  have 
passed  the  same,  or  similar  laws.  New  York  and 
Louisiana  now  have  laws  pending,  and  proposed 
legislation  along  this  line  is  now  under  way  in  many 
other  states. 

This  awakening  has  also  helped  to  stir  public 
officials  to  uncover  numerous  pandering  cases. 
These  public  officials  have  found  that  there  is  not 
one  great  syndicate,  as  is  sometimes  supposed,  own- 
ing and  operating  this  business.     It  is  conducted  by 


The  Awakening  215 

separate  groups  who  have  adopted  like  methods, 
many  of  them  having  either  direct  or  indirect  rela- 
tions and  understandings  with  each  other. 

The  awakening  of  the  people  has  brought  to  light 
too  that  not  only  has  the  immigrant  girl  in  America 
been  exploited  in  this  foreign  traffic,  but  American 
girls  have  been  procured  for  the  foreign  market. 
Girls  from  many  !North  American  cities  have  been 
sent  to  South  America,  to  Shanghai  and  to  Australia. 

For  years  the  camps  of  the  miners  and  the  armies 
have  afforded  a  ready  market  for  the  sale  of  girls. 
The  procurers  took  girls  to  South  Africa,  where 
many  mining  camps  were  located,  followed  the 
Russian  army  through  the  Russo-Japanese  war, 
founded  colonies  in  the  mining  camps  of  Alaska, 
and  camped  with  their  victims  on  the  banks  of  the 
Panama  Canal. 

Thus  the  awakening  to  the  full  realization  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  traffic  in  girls  has  been  a  shock 
to  most  people.  From  its  birth  in  Eastern  Eurrope 
where  the  Kaftan,  as  the  procurer  was  then  called, 
gathered  up  girls  in  Galacia  and  Russian  Poland 
and  sold  them  into  Asia,  this  commerce  in  victims 
for  dens  of  vice  has  spread  in  all  directions.  In 
Europe,  Lemberg  and  Paris  have  become  the  chief 
distributing  centres,  while  in  America,  New  York, 
Cliicago,  St.  Louis  and  San  Francisco  have  become 
the  main  distributing  points. 


XVI 
THE  LESSONS  THAT  WHITE  SLAVERY  TEACHES 

THE  traffic  in  women  slaves,  in  one  form  or 
another,  is  older  than  Babylon,  but  it  has 
remained  for  the  present  age  to  see  it 
crystallized  into  a  well-defined  business.  As  we 
know  it  to-day,  this  traffic  is  a  new  form  of  an  old 
enemy.  This  old  enemy  in  its  new  form  teaches 
us  many  lessons. 

There  are  those  who  doubt  the  existence  of  a 
well-defined  white  slave  traffic.  They  say  that 
pandering  as  a  business  does  not  exist,  but  that  it 
is  only  "  sporadic  instances  of  the  barter  and  sale 
of  white  female  slaves."  The  doubters  should 
study  the  situation  carefully  before  they  venture 
opinions  concerning  the  traific  in  girls. 

Shall  I  tell   the   story  of  Kate  McK ,  the 

fifteen-year-old  victim  of  Jennie  Moulton,  who  was 
lured  into  a  Greek  resort  on  the  West  Side  of  Chi- 
cago, run  by  a  man  known  as  Gus  Polls?  Kate 
said  that  she  became  acquainted  with  Jennie  Moul- 
ton in  a  candy  factory.  The  girl  was  poor  and 
was  forced  to  work  long  hours  in  the  factory.  To 
her  inexperienced  view  it  looked  like  a  golden  op- 
portunity when  the  Moulton  woman  offered  to  take 
her  to  a  place  where  she  could  make  more  money. 
216 


Lessons  That  White  Slavery  Teaches     217 

Although  this  was  a  clear  pandering  case,  more 
severe  punishment  could  be  obtained  on  another 
charge,  because  of  the  girl's  tender  age.  There- 
fore, Gus  Polis  and  Nicholas  Deurutaholia  were 
charged  with  rape,  and  Jennie  Moulton  was  made 
an  accessory  to  the  same  crime.  The  case  ended 
by  passing  the  penalty  of  twenty  years  in  the 
penitentiary  upon  Jennie  Moulton.  Polis  and 
Deurutaholia  received  sentences  of  five  years  in 
the  penitentiary. 

Will    it   help   to  hear  Alexander  Hooper  tell 

how  he  lured  Loretta    C from   St.  Louis  to 

Chicago,  where  she  was  forced  into  the  life  of  a 
white  slave  ?  He  tells  that  about  the  middle  of 
July,  1909,  he  made  arrangements  with  a  resort 
owner  to  bring  a  girl  from  St.  Louis  to  Chicago, 

"  He  gave  me  thirty-five  dollars,  and  I  brought 

Loretta  C to  Chicago   two  days   after  this. 

"We  came  over  the  Chicago  and  Alton  Kailway. 
We  got  off  the  train  at  Halsted  Street,  and  there 
met  two  men  sent  to  meet  us.     They  escorted  us 

to  a  house  known  as  the .     There  I  placed 

Loretta  C where  she  became  an  inmate,  and 

where  she  was  put  in  debt  for  the  amount  paid  me, 
and  also  for  clothes  amounting  to  fifty-five  dollars." 

Hooper  was  sentenced  to  ten  months'  unprison- 
ment  in  the  house  of  correction  and  was  fined  three 
hundred  dollars  and  costs. 

Would  it   be    more    convincing  to  know  that 

Clarence  Gentry  procured  Katherine  Y from 

Nashville,  Tennessee,  July  24,  1909,  and  sold  her 


2i8      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

into  a  Chicago  resort  ?  This  girl  told  in  court  that 
she  had  been  deceived  by  Gentry  who  promised  to 
marry  her,  and  upon  that  representation  she  came 
to  Chicago  with  him.  She  told  also  that  he  threat- 
ened to  kill  her  at  one  time  if  she  tried  to  escape. 
At  another  time  when  he  found  her  writing  a  letter 
he  had  beaten  her  unmercifully  and  cut  her  with  a 
knife.  He  showed  her  a  finger  of  a  dead  person  on 
one  occasion,  and  said  to  her,  "  This  is  what  be- 
comes of  people  who  snitch." 

After  she  had  been  in  this  place  about  nine 
weeks  Gypsy  Smith,  the  evangelist,  held  a  meeting 
in  the  red  light  district,  and  a  reporter  investigating 
the  effect  of  the  evangelist's  meeting  upon  vice  re- 
sorts asked  her  if  she  wanted  to  get  out. 

"  I  will  take  you  out,"  he  promised.  And  he 
was  true  to  his  word.  It  was  after  this  that  Gentry 
was  arrested  and  found  guilty  of  pandering  in 
Judge  Newcomer's  court  January  28,  1910,  and 
given  a  sentence  of  six  months  in  the  house  of  cor- 
rection, and  a  fine  of  three  hundred  dollars. 

Fay  B ,  a  fifteen-year-old  orphan  girl,  came 

to  Chicago  from  Valparaiso,  Indiana,  after  the 
death  of  her  father,  and  walked  the  streets  until 
she  was  almost  famished  from  hunger.  She  was  al- 
most dead  from  loss  of  sleep  when  she  met  Anna 
Johnson,  who  said  she  was  wealthy,  needing  a 
housekeeper,  and  appearing  to  sympathize  with  the 
girl,  lured  her  to  a  disreputable  life. 

It  was  Friday,  December  twenty-seventh,  when 
detectives  rescued  Theresa  B ,  seventeen  years 


Lessons  That  White  Slavery  Teaches     219 

old,  from  the  place  to  which  she  had  been  sold  by 
Frank  Cavello.  This  pander  was  tried  in  the  court 
where  Judge  Beitler  presided,  and  was  found  guilty 
and  sentenced. 

If  these  facts  would  bring  home  to  the  people 
who  still  doubt  a  realization  that  a  terrible  evil 
has  been  steadily  growing  in  power  and  extent ; 
if  the  recital  of  cases  will  result  in  keeping  the 
regular  agencies  of  surveillance  and  protection 
efficiently  active  and  arouse  a  vital  public  opinion, 
then  the  steady  procession  of  arrests,  prosecutions 
and  convictions  which  has  marked  the  years  of 
struggle  to  effectually  stamp  out  the  panders  will 
not  have  been  in  vain. 

We  laud  and  honour  chastity  and  purity  in  women, 
and  it  is  the  traffic  in  women  that  undermines  that 
which  we  have  always  cherished.  It  is  for  this 
reason  that  it  seems  so  strange  that  some  people, 
even  those  with  the  kindest  hearts  and  the  highest 
motives,  have  discounted  the  very  existence  of 
white  slavery. 

The  question  is  often  asked,— Why  cannot  gu-ls 
run  away  ?  Why  can  they  not  call  to  people  pass- 
ing on  the  streets  ?  Many  do  attempt  to  escape  and 
are  forced  back  into  slavery.  They  are  not  per- 
mitted to  go  near  the  windows,  oftentimes  because 
of  police  regulations.  Many  say  that  they  wish  to 
get  away,  only  to  find  that  they  have  confided  in 
the  "  ringers  "  who  appear  to  sympathize  ^Wth  them, 
as  a  ruse,  to  ascertain  whether  they  will  tell  that 
they  want  to  get  away,  as  they  have  been  forbidden 


220      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

to  do.  If  the  girls  say  they  want  to  get  out  of  the 
houses  the  "  ringers  "  report  to  the  proprietors  and 
the  girls  are  whipped,  ill  treated  and  cowed  into  sub- 
mission. Then  they  are  afraid  to  tell  their  stories 
to  any  man,  fearing  lest  he  be  a  "  ringer." 

Many  girls,  however,  succeed  in  telling  men  of 
their  wish  to  escape,  and  are  promised  aid,  but 
the  promise  is  broken  lest  it  bring  publicity  and 
disgrace.  Thus  the  girls,  whose  hopes  were  raised, 
give  up  in  despair. 

While  some  may  still  doubt,  those  interested  in 
the  elimination  of  white  slavery  may  be  greatly  en- 
couraged because  of  the  splendid  backing  the  cam- 
paign is  receiving.  One  of  the  most  powerful  or- 
ganizations to  enter  the  arena  to  combat  this  social 
evil  is  the  Federation  of  Women's  Clubs.  These 
clubs  are  sending  out  letters  and  literature  to  warn 
mothers  and  daughters.  They  are  aiding  greatly 
in  the  educational  legal  and  publicity  campaign. 
The  Women's  Christian  Temperance  Union  has  also 
entered  heartily  in  the  war  against  the  girl  traffic. 

In  fact  organizations  for  good  throughout  the 
country  as  well  as  men  and  women  of  influence 
have  been  aroused  to  put  forth  strenuous  efforts  to 
blot  out  this,  the  blackest  cloud  hanging  over  our 
land.  Through  the  efforts  of  such  influences,  those 
who  doubt  are  fast  becoming  few  and  far  between. 

And  we  may  learn  from  the  fate  of  gu'ls  who 
have  been  sacrificed  upon  the  altars  of  lust  and 
gold  to  bring  money  down  from  the  throne.  To- 
day the  American  idol  is  gold.      We  have  become 


Lessons  That  White  Slavery  Teaches     221 

money  worshippers.  Most  of  our  reforms  have  to 
do  with  money.  We  have  confined  our  efforts 
within  the  circumference  of  the  dollar.  Let  us  put 
the  purity  of  our  homes  and  the  morals  of  the  people 
back  in  the  proper  place.  Let  them  be  the  goals  we 
strive  to  reach.  Then  we  shall  not  rack  the  lives 
of  our  girls  upon  the  wheel  of  economic  conditions. 
Parents  and  those  having  the  charge  of  girls  will 
not  send  girls  then  to  earn  money  just  to  help  fill 
the  family  coffers. 

Another  lesson  that  white  slavery  teaches  is  that 
false  modesty  should  be  cast  aside  in  discussing 
social  evil  problems.  N'othing  is  more  beautiful 
than  innocence.  Nothing  is  more  hypocritical  than 
affected  innocence.  False  modesty  is  affected  inno- 
cence, and  too  long  have  parents,  because  of  this 
false  modesty,  failed  to  bring  to  the  knowledge  of 
their  children  those  facts  which  every  person  should 
know  about.  They  allow  their  children  to  get  their 
tutelage  upon  the  streets,  instead  of  at  the  fireside 
at  home.  "When  they  send  their  daughters  out  into 
the  world,  without  the  safeguards  which  knowl- 
edge furnishes,  in  the  language  of  a  confessed 
pander,  "Are  they  not  frightfully  guilty  of  the 
murder  of  their  own  daughters  ?  "  Yes,  fathers 
and  mothers  are  oftentimes  morally  responsible  for 
the  do^vnf all  of  their  daughters  for  not  taking  them 
into  their  confidence  at  home.  They  should  cast 
aside  all  fanciful  notions  of  modesty,  so  that  their 
daughters  may  know  the  truth. 

Neglect  by  parents  in  the  raising  of  their  daugh- 


222       Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

ters  is  an  unportant  element  in  the  making  of  white 
slaves.  The  highest  aim  of  parents  should  be  the 
proper  rearing  of  their  children.  Instead,  too 
often,  it  seems  to-day  that  fathers  and  mothers  are 
thinking  of  almost  everything  else.  They  let  their 
children  grow  up  like  weeds  in  the  prairie  to  care 
for  and  look  after  themselves.  Girls  who  are 
brought  up  under  such  influence  are  as  a  rule  easily 
deceived  by  the  panders. 

In  the  effort  to  cast  a  white  light  upon  these  arch 
enemies  to  society  who  lurk  in  the  darkness,  who 
buy  and  sell  the  souls  of  daughters,  who  gather  in 
the  miserable  dollars  coined  from  the  tears  of  girls, 
I  have  tried  to  handle  hard,  cold  facts  as  delicately 
as  possible,  that  any  child  of  proper  age  may  read 
and  know.  I  have  striven  to  avoid  the  sensational. 
And  3^et  to  the  uninitiated  the  very  subject  must  seem 
sensational.  It  may  seem  sensational  because  too 
many  of  us  are  heirs  to  well-intentioned  but  erro- 
neous ideas  concerning  the  most  important  part  of 
our  moral  as  well  as  our  physical  education. 

Furthermore  the  campaign  against  white  slavery 
has  taught  us  to  hue  straight  to  the  line.  Friends 
who  try  to  aid  in  the  extermination  of  panders 
hinder  the  very  cause  they  would  help  by  dragging 
it  into  the  fights  for  other  reforms. 

There  is  a  work  that  is  at  least  American  wide 
in  elhninating  the  procuring  of  girls.  This  is  a  huge 
task  but  by  no  means  an  insurmountable  one. 
Other  cities  will  have  to  face  the  same  problems 
that  Kew  York  and  Chicago  are  now  facing  with 


Lessons  That  White  Slavery  Teaches     223 

the  brightest  prospects  for  success.  Organizations 
Hke  the  National  Vigilance  Committee  of  IS'ew 
York  and  Baltimore,  the  American  Alliance  in 
Chicago,  the  American  Purity  Federation,  with 
headquarters  in  La  Crosse,  Wisconsin,  and  the  New 
England  Watch  and  Ward  Society  of  Boston,  which 
are  hueing  straight  to  the  line  in  fighting  white 
slavery,  deserve  support.  Offices  like  our  own  sup- 
ported voluntarily  must  continue  unceasingly. 

Homes  similar  to  those  supported  by  the  Women's 
Clubs  of  Illinois  in  Chicago  must  be  instituted  in 
all  large  cities.  We  are  running  down  and  prose- 
cuting the  panders.  The  girls  must  be  looked  after 
when  they  are  rescued  for  they  cannot  be  turned 
out  in  the  streets,  friendless.  Many  do  not  want 
to  return  home  for  various  reasons.  These  homes, 
not  reform  institutions,  must  help  the  girls  to  get  a 
fresh  start  in  a  wholesome  way  so  that  they  will 
not  have  to  battle  with  the  prejudice  of  past  Uves. 

Shall  we  cast  these  girls  aside  and  deny  them  pro- 
tection ?  Shall  we  not  answer  the  appeals  of  the 
mothers  Avho  are  calling  upon  us  to  find  their  daugh- 
ters and  bring  them  home  ?  Shall  we  not  uproot 
a  system  that  is  snatching  girls  away  from  their 
homes  and  casting  them  into  a  most  degi-aded  life  ? 
Shall  we  not  reclaim  these  girls  who  would  turn 
back  and  leave  their  loathsome  existence  behind 
them,  taking  them  from  the  dens  of  disease  and 
horror  and  make  them  better  and  truer  women  ? 

Let  us  as  individuals,  as  private  citizens,  strive  to 
educate  the  people  to  cast  aside  false  modesty :  and 


224      Panders  and  Their  White  Slaves 

those  of  us  who  are  fathers  and  mothers,  let  us  be 
gin  with  our  own  daughters.  And  then,  ha^dng 
made  it  less  easy  for  panders  to  secure  their  victims, 
let  us  use  our  influence  to  secure  uniform  laws  for 
the  prosecution  of  panders,  with  high  penalties,  say 
from  one  year  to  life,  in  every  state  in  the  Union. 
And  as  voters  let  us  see  that  public  officials  do 
their  duty  to  enforce  the  laws.  And  let  us  do  this 
for  the  womanhood  of  America. 

God  '/^^x- V-:-  \j.c  jOiiui  w^.  frooyui. 


FROM  WEBSTER'S  DICTIONARY. 

'ESAN-'A  prostitute,  a  Woman  who  prostikufc 
erself  for  hire,  especially  to  men-  of  rank. 


"Verily  I  say  unto  you,  That  a  rich  man  shall 
hardly  enter  the  kingdom  of  HEAVEN/' 

JESUa 


Md' 


YE  are  Witnesses  of  these  ihawp^ 

Printed  In  the  United  States  of  America. 


What  if  this  Girl  were  your  Sister^ 

i 

What  constitutes  a  Devil  Man?       I 

God  tempts  ao  maa  or  w( 


OHRKSTIAN    GIRL 


What  if 


V 


TTE — \ 


E  SLAV  E. 


THE 


TRAGEDY  O 


IGNORANCE. 

To  SAVB  that  which 


>was  LOST.  * 


MATHEMATICS  FOR  CHRISTIANS. 
Each  100  Devil  Men.  Require  an  Innor 

Girl,  to  be  Made  a  Tenderloin  Whore. 
God  temgts  no  maa  or  woman. 

And  YE  are  witnesses  of  these  thir.^ 

CHRIST  IS  KING. 

Were  Christ  Actual  King  of  every  lif*     < 
Thsvo  v/ovild  be  no  Murder-No  Under 
World-No  Lawlessness  Churches  would 
Thrive  and  every  Sou!  Saved, 

hat  if  this  Girl  were  your  Slste 
Vyhat  constitutes  a  Devil  Man? 


To  SAVE  that  which  was  LOb  L" 


50D. 


HO 


THE   WHITE  SLAT 


:? 


I .'  /  J         » 


llrl  were  your  Sister? 
V/hat  constitutes  a  Devil  Man?     I 


CANNOT  CHANGE  THE  LAWS  OF  GOD 
lEITHER  PAGAN,  JEW,  OR  CHRISTIAN. 


American  Daughters  [their 

Wothers  support   in  old  age] 

Sold,  bought,  used  by  human 

"Vipers"  "Adulterers". 


LOST  GIRLS. 
Read  Pages  165  to  168. 


'  TO  THt 

Adultery  in  any  form,  IS- RAPE  OF  WIFEHOOD, 
MOTHERHOOD.  By  it.  Deceit,  Falsehood,  Treachery, 
Murder,  Prevent  Gods  will,  hence  Gods  Hell  in  Eternity 


Behind  bars  and  locks 

HELPLESS  VICTIMS,  Children 

of  Sorrowing  Mothers. 

OVER  1000 

Persons  DISAPPEARED  in  an 

American  City  IN  ONE  YEAR. 

3-4  YOUNG  GIRLS. 


''WILD  OATS"    IS   ALWAYS 
A  PREMEDITATED  CRIME. 

Rev.^2:15. 


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